Fig. 5.

RT-PCR analysis in cumulus cells (a) and MII oocytes (b). RNA in situ hybridization results prompted us to examine expression levels of the Epab and Pabpc1 genes in the cumulus cells and MII oocytes. Following cumulus cells and metaphase II oocytes isolation from cumulus oocyte complexes, RNA isolation and cDNA synthesis were carried out to establish RT-PCR reaction. We found that both cumulus cells and MII oocytes expressed the Epab and Pabpc1 genes. These findings confirmed that cumulus cells originated from granulosa cells transcribed the Epab mRNA as well as Pabpc1 mRNA. Epab: 246 bp in length; Pabpc1: 196 bp in length; Actb (β-actin): 244 bp in length. The 1 kb plus DNA ladder (Invitrogen, NY, USA) was used to estimate molecular mass of PCR fragments of the target genes