Reproduction Abstracts

Introduction: Several studies support the notion that in vitro pre-maturation treatments aimed to improve the developmental capability of immature oocytes have a different effect depending on the oocyte metabolic status at the time of its removal from the follicle. We demonstrated that changes in large-scale chromatin configuration within the germinal vesicle (GV) of fully-grown bovine oocytes are related to the acquisition of developmental competence. In particular, ...

Introduction: Previous studies suggest that progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) plays an essential role during bovine oocyte meiosis, since it i) localizes to the centromeres at metaphases I and II and ii) concentrates between the separating chromosomes at ana/telophase I. Moreover, injection of an antibody to PGRMC1 significantly impairs completion of meiosis. The aim of the present study is to expand these findings by using siRNA (RNAi)-mediated gene silencin...