Cumulus High Vs. Low Potential. Bos taurus

Differences between high- and low-potential COCs were examined by transcriptomic analysis of CC biopsies obtained from COCs of 2-6mm follicles from slaughterhouse ovaries before individual in vitro maturation, fertilization and culture until day 8 post-fertilization. Each COC was individually tracked and categorized based on his fate: embryo at blastocyst stage (CC-Blast) or embryo arrested at 2- to 8-cell stage (CC-2-8-cells). Average blastocyst rates were 27.7% for individual culture, and 31.2% for group control (not significantly different). Five cumulus biopsies per replicate were pooled for each fate. Three CC replicates underwent transcriptomic analysis using RNA microarray assay. Overall design: Each cumulus cell sample is composed of 5 COC biopsies, 3 samples or biological replicates for each fate (CC-blast or CC-2-8-cells) were analysed by microarray. CC-2-8-cells condition was used as reference.