{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,11]],"date-time":"2026-09-11T05:06:06Z","timestamp":1789103166616,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788912000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100006256","name":"University of L\u2019Aquila","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100006256","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01j9p1r26","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: Granulosa (GCs) and cumulus cells (CCs) play a key supportive role in oocyte developmental competence and in antioxidant defence mechanisms triggered by endogenous reactive oxygen species production. Assisted reproductive technology (ART) procedures are an additional source of oxidative stress (OS) that somatic cells must counteract to ensure healthy embryo production. In this study, we quantified the major antioxidant enzymes (CAT, GPx1, SOD-1 and 2) in GCs and CCs retrieved from human antral follicles classified as large (&gt;18 mm, L) or small (&lt;18 mm, S) using ELISA. We correlated their contents with ongoing pregnancy rate (OPR). Materials and Methods: Healthy women (n = 17) undergoing ART procedures were selected for this study. During pickup, antral follicles were classified by diameter as L or S, and their somatic cells were stored separately for ELISA. After intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), embryo quality was assessed morphologically, and the OPR was evaluated. Results: Results showed that embryo quality and OPR were positively correlated with higher antioxidant enzyme levels detected in both GCs and CCs independently of follicle size. Conclusions: The data suggest that adequate levels of antioxidant enzymes in GCs and CCs are necessary not only to protect the oocyte from oxidative damage, but may also help predict embryo quality and OPR.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina62091734","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T08:05:43Z","timestamp":1788941143000},"page":"1734","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Oxidative Stress and Oocyte Developmental Competence: A Cell-Specific Analysis of Antioxidant Enzymes in Human Follicle Cells"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"62","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9073-294X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giovanni","family":"Ruvolo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro Italiano di Procreazione Assistita-Studio Diagnosi Medica, Viale Regina Margherita 270, 00198 Roma, Italy"},{"name":"Centro di Biologia Della Riproduzione S.r.L., Via Valerio Villareale 54, 90141 Palermo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gianna","family":"Rossi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L\u2019Aquila, 67100 L\u2019Aquila, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6180-5131","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniele","family":"Lozzi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L\u2019Aquila, 67100 L\u2019Aquila, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gerlando","family":"Cocchiara","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medicina di Precisione in Area Medica, Chirurgica e Critica, University of Palermo, Via Liborio Giuffr\u00e8 5, 90127 Palermo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Beatrice","family":"Ermini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro Italiano di Procreazione Assistita-Studio Diagnosi Medica, Viale Regina Margherita 270, 00198 Roma, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marta","family":"Scarcella","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro Italiano di Procreazione Assistita-Studio Diagnosi Medica, Viale Regina Margherita 270, 00198 Roma, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michele","family":"Ermini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro Italiano di Procreazione Assistita-Studio Diagnosi Medica, Viale Regina Margherita 270, 00198 Roma, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ettore","family":"Cittadini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro Italiano di Procreazione Assistita-Studio Diagnosi Medica, Viale Regina Margherita 270, 00198 Roma, Italy"},{"name":"Centro di Biologia Della Riproduzione S.r.L., Via Valerio Villareale 54, 90141 Palermo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sandra","family":"Cecconi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L\u2019Aquila, 67100 L\u2019Aquila, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"525","DOI":"10.1093\/humupd\/dmr009","article-title":"What does it take to make a developmentally competent mammalian egg?","volume":"17","author":"Zuccotti","year":"2011","journal-title":"Hum. 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