The enhancement by prostaglandin E2 of cumulus cell outgrowth in vitro

Oocyte-cumulus cell complexes (OCCC) were aspirated from medium-sized (3-5 mm phi) porcine follicles to study quantitatively the process of forming monolayers. A monolayer index (MLI) was therefore developed. This index was evaluated by addition of graded quantities of fetal bovine serum. Furthermore, we observed that addition of prostaglandin E2 accelerated the monolayer formation (P < 0.001 at 20 hours versus 40 hours). The effect of PGE2 regarding both monolayer formation and cumulus cell expansion has been discussed.