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Studies performed on humans, dogs, and cats in the 1870s suggested that the production of oocytes (immature egg cells) stops at or shortly after birth. A review of reports from 1900 to 1950 by zoologist Solomon Zuckerman cemented the belief that females have a finite number of oocytes that are formed before they are born. This dogma has been ...
As a follicle grows in size and the antrum develops, more layers of cumulus oophorus cells accumulate around the oocyte to aid in the acrosome reaction and sperm penetration into the oocyte. The proximity between the cumulus oophorus cells and the oocyte favors bidirectional communication, which is vital for oocyte development.
The zona pellucida is a translucent matrix of cross-linked glycoprotein filaments that surrounds the mammalian oocyte and is 6.5–20 μm thick depending on the species. Its formation, which depends on a conserved zona pellucida-like (ZP) module that mediates the polymerization of egg coat components, [2] is critical to successful fertilization. [3]
An oocyte (/ ˈ oʊ ə s aɪ t /, oöcyte, or ovocyte is a female gametocyte or germ cell involved in reproduction. In other words, it is an immature ovum, or egg cell. An oocyte is produced in a female fetus in the ovary during female gametogenesis. The female germ cells produce a primordial germ cell (PGC), which then undergoes mitosis ...
Ovulation is triggered by a spike in the amount of FSH and LH released from the pituitary gland. During the luteal (post-ovulatory) phase, the secondary oocyte will travel through the fallopian tubes toward the uterus. If fertilized by a sperm, the fertilized secondary oocyte or ovum may implant there 6–12 days later. [11]
Mammalian oocytes are maintained in meiotic prophase arrest for a very long time—months in mice, years in humans. Initially, the arrest is due to lack of sufficient cell cycle proteins to allow meiotic progression. However, as the oocyte grows, these proteins are synthesized, and meiotic arrest becomes dependent on cyclic AMP. [4]
Titus et al. [13] (2013) found that, as humans (and mice) age, expression of four key DNA repair genes necessary for homologous recombinational repair declines in oocytes. They hypothesized that DNA double-strand break repair is vital for the maintenance of oocyte reserve, and that a decline in efficiency of repair with age plays a key role in ...
Cortical granule (CG) distribution within cortex of human oocyte at metaphase II. Cortical granules are regulatory secretory organelles (ranging from 0.2 um to 0.6 um in diameter) found within oocytes and are most associated with polyspermy prevention after the event of fertilization. [1]