Oocyte Morphometric Assessment and Gene Expression Profiling of Oocytes and Cumulus Cells as Biomarkers of Oocyte Competence in Sheep.

ABSTRACT: Oocyte quality is crucial for subsequent embryo development and so it is a major challenge in assisted reproductive technologies. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the morphometric parameters of oocytes (experiment 1) and the relative gene expression of oocytes and cumulus cells (CCs) (experiment 2) as biomarkers of oocyte quality after individually culturing them (one oocyte or embryo/drop). In experiment 1, individually matured oocytes were measured and classified into small, intermediate, and large oocytes after a cluster analysis, based on total diameter (with zona pellucida, ZP), oocyte diameter (without ZP), and ZP thickness. These oocytes were individually fertilized in vitro and cultured. The embryo development was evaluated up to the blastocyst stage. According to the to

SUBMITTER: Maside C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8532595 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature