BACKGROUND The LH surge induces great physiological changes within the preovulatory
follicle, which culminate in the ovulation of a mature oocyte that is capable of supporting …

Oocyte quality is a key limiting factor in female fertility, yet we have a poor understanding of
what constitutes oocyte quality or the mechanisms governing it. The ovarian follicular …

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of bovine oocyte maturation, fertilization or
culture in vivo or in vitro on the proportion of oocytes reaching the blastocyst stage, and on …

Only a fraction of oocytes present in the ovaries at birth are ever ovulated during the lifetime
of a female mammal. In vitro maturation (IVM) offers the possibility to exploit what is a largely …

The oocyte growth phase includes a series of modulations of organelles and inclusions, as
well as a period of oocyte transcription, which are necessary for the oocyte to achieve …

Oocyte quality affects early embryonic survival, the establishment and maintenance of
pregnancy, fetal development, and even adult disease. Quality, or developmental …

Methods for standard in vitro fertilization have been difficult to establish in the horse. We
evaluated whether prolonged sperm pre-incubation would support subsequent fertilization …

BACKGROUND A large number of studies have contributed to understanding the general
mechanisms driving ovarian folliculogenesis in humans and show a complex endocrine …

As oocytes near the end of their growth phase, they become competent to undergo two
aspects of maturation, cytoplasmic and nuclear. Both are essential for the formation of an …

The aims of the present series of experiments were to establish a possible relationship
between bovine oocyte diameter and follicle size, investigate the developmental ability of …