INFLUENCE OF FOLLICULAR MATURATION AND CULTURE CONDITIONS ON THE MEIOSIS OF PIG OOCYTES <i>IN VITRO</i>

Abstract

Department of Physiology, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, 660 West Redwood Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, U.S.A. (Received 16th September 1974) The original finding of Pincus &amp; Enzmann (1935) that isolated rabbit oocytes will mature spontaneously in vitro has been extended to nine other mammalian species (Donahue, 1972), including the pig (Edwards, 1965; Foote &amp; Thibault, 1969; McGaughey &amp; Polge, 1971). The main objectives of the present communication are (a) to describe a culture system for studying the maturation of pig oocytes which can also be used for other ovarian cell types, and (b) to compare the ability of oocytes isolated from follicles differing in their developmental stage to undergo maturation. Oocytes were collected from pig ovaries obtained at a local slaughterhouse. Within 20 to 30 min after the pigs had been killed the ovaries were excised and placed in 0·9% NaCl plus 100 i.u. penicillin/ml and 100 μg streptomycin/ml