HES1 (hairy and enhancer of split-1, effector of the NOTCH pathway) plays a role in oocyte maturation and has been detected so far mainly in somatic follicular cells. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether HES1 is present in both compartments of bovine cumulus oocyte complexes (COCs) and whether in vitro maturation itself has an effect on its distribution. We investigated the abundance of HES1 mRNA and protein in bovine COCs characterized by Brilliant-Cresyl-Blue (BCB) stainability by RT-PCR and immunofluorescence before and after in vitro maturation (IVM). To study the interaction of the compartments and the possible translocation of HES1, we injected GFP-HES1 mRNA into oocytes before maturation and analyzed fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). The results showed that HES1 mRNA was detectable in oocytes but not in cumulus cells. The number of transcripts increased with maturation, especially in BCB-positive oocytes. In contrast, the protein was mainly visible in cumulus cells both before and after maturation. After GFP-HES1-mRNA injection into oocytes, a signal could be detected not only in the oocytes but also in cumulus cells. Our result shows a nearly exclusive distribution of HES1 mRNA and protein in oocytes and cumulus cells, respectively, that might be explained by the transfer of the protein from the oocyte into cumulus cells.
Keywords: HES1; IVM; bovine; cumulus; oocyte.