Gene expression profile in human cumulus cells (CCs) during long-term in vitro culture

In the ovarian follicle, maturation of the oocyte increases in the presence of somatic cells called cumulus cells (CCs). These cells form a direct barrier between the oocyte and external environment. Thanks to bidirectional communication, they have a direct impact on the oocyte, its quality and development potential. Understanding the genetic profile of CCs appears to be important in elucidating the physiology of oocytes. In this work, CCs were subjected to in vitro long-term culture. RNA was collected after 1, 7, 15 and 30 days of culture. Expression microarrays were used for analysis, which allowed to identify groups of genes characteristic for particular cellular processes. In this study, we demonstrated the gene expression profile of long time primary cultured human cumulus cells. Human cumulus cells (CCs) were obtained from patients, aged 25-40 years, mean age 33.67 years ± 1.46 [SEM; standard error of the mean],, with diagnosed infertility. The cells were harvested after 24h, 7 days, 15 days and 30 days after begining of culture and submited to RNA isolation and microarray analisys.