Transcriptome analysis of human cumulus cells reveals hypoxia as the main determinant of follicular senescence.. Homo sapiens

RNA sequencing profiling of cumulus cells revealed that the follicles of older women have a compromised environment with hypoxic stress being the main contributor to age-related oocyte quality decay. Overall design: Twenty cumulus cells (CC) samples (from a total of 15 patients) were obtained from oocytes of either male factor or egg donor patients. RNA sequencing and bioinformatic tools were used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between CCs from seven aged and eight young patients (40 y.o.). Quantitative-PCR and immunoflourescent staining were used for validation.