Acceleration of onset of oocyte maturation in vitro by luteinizing hormone

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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of luteinizing hormone (LH) on the earliest stage of oocyte maturation ‐ the stage of breakdown of the dictyate nucleus. Oocytes were isolated from the preovulatory follicles of adult, cyclic rats. They were incubated in culture medium with or without 10 μg/ml LH. The cultures were observed continuously for up to 3 hours. Analysis of the rate of disappearance of the germinal vesicle nucleolus revealed that LH accelerated the breakdown process. The median times of disappearance were 91.3 minutes without LH and 62.3 minutes with LH. This is in accord with earlier reports on enhancement of fertilizability of oocytes matured in vitro with LH. Thus, although oocytes mature spontaneously in culture, the maturation remains LH sensitive.