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An oocyte (/ ˈ oʊ ə s aɪ t /, oöcyte, or ovocyte is a female gametocyte or germ cell involved in reproduction. In other words, it is an immature ovum, or egg cell. An oocyte is produced in a female fetus in the ovary during female gametogenesis. The female germ cells produce a primordial germ cell (PGC), which then undergoes mitosis ...
Oogenesis starts with the process of developing primary oocytes, which occurs via the transformation of oogonia into primary [oocyte]s, a process called oocytogenesis. [11] From one single oogonium, only one mature oocyte will rise, with 3 other cells called polar bodies. Oocytogenesis is complete either before or shortly after birth.
The zona pellucida is a translucent matrix of cross-linked glycoprotein filaments that surrounds the mammalian oocyte and is 6.5–20 μm thick depending on the species. Its formation, which depends on a conserved zona pellucida-like (ZP) module that mediates the polymerization of egg coat components, [2] is critical to successful fertilization. [3]
An ovarian follicle is a roughly spheroid cellular aggregation set found in the ovaries.It secretes hormones that influence stages of the menstrual cycle.At the time of puberty, women have approximately 200,000 to 300,000 follicles, [1] [2] each with the potential to release an egg cell (ovum) at ovulation for fertilization. [3]
The egg cell or ovum (pl.: ova) is the female reproductive cell, or gamete, [1] in most anisogamous organisms (organisms that reproduce sexually with a larger, female gamete and a smaller, male one). The term is used when the female gamete is not capable of movement (non- motile ).
Fertilization was not understood in antiquity. Hippocrates believed that the embryo was the product of male semen and a female factor. But Aristotle held that only male semen gave rise to an embryo, while the female only provided a place for the embryo to develop, [5] a concept he acquired from the preformationist Pythagoras.
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For fertilization to occur, sperm cells rely on hyaluronidase (an enzyme found in the acrosome of spermatozoa) to disperse the corona radiata from the zona pellucida of the secondary (ovulated) oocyte, thus permitting entry into the perivitelline space and allowing contact between the sperm cell and the nucleus of the oocyte.