Expression data from human primary cumulus cells culture (hCC)

The cumulus cells niche that surrounds the oocyte is essential for its maturation and presumably for the oocyte to acquire its competence to confer pluripotency. The cells cultured from the human oocyte cumulus niche (hCC) could be used as feeders for the propagation of human pluripotent stem cells in vitro. We used microarrays to establish the molecular portrait of the hCC at different passages Cumulus cells were dissociated mechanically from the oocyte and cultured for a long period. Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 DNA chips were performed to analyze the transcriptome of hCC at different passages (P3, P6 and P9). The Affymetrix 3’ IVT express protocol was used to prepare cRNA (one-cycle amplification). The gene expression data were extracted using Affymetrix Expression Console software.