Cumulus oophorus mucification during resumption of meiosis in the pig. A scanning electron microscope study

The process of cumulus mucification in pig preovulatory follicles was examined by scanning electron microscopy. The localization of extracellular material and changes in the granulosa cell surface were observed at 0, 16, 20 and 40 h after hCG injection. At 0 h the pig oocyte cumulus complex was closely attached to the parietal layer of granulosa cells. Cumulus and parietal granulosa cells had microvilli and cytoplasmic projections connecting neighbouring cells. The network of extracellular amorphous material was observed for the first time at 16 h after hCG around the cells that formed a stalk between the parietal granulosa and the cumulus oophorus. At 20 h after hCG, the intercellular matrix was thicker and extended to almost all the cumulus oophorus surface; when visible, cells were often covered by blebs and ruffling membranes. All oocytes examined by light microscopy at 16 and 20 h after hCG were at the germinal vesicle stage with condensing bivalents. Therefore, it was concluded that oocyte nuclear maturation started at the same time that a mucified peduncle was forming between the cumulus oophorus and the parietal granulosa. Shortly before ovulation (40 h after hCG) the matrix material filled all intercellular spaces and mucification had extended to the corona cell layer and the zona pellucida surface.