Cumulus High Vs. Low Potential

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. 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.