Microspread ovarian cell preparations for the analysis of meiotic prophase progression in oocytes with improved recovery by cytospin centrifugation.

Female fertility is critically influenced by two events affecting oocytes during meiotic prophase progression: meiotic recombination between homologous chromosomes; and a major oocyte loss. It is technically challenging to examine these events, which take place in fetal and neonatal ovaries in mammals. Here, we describe a protocol for the preparation of dissociated ovarian cells and their spread onto histology slides. These preparations are suitable for cytogenetic, quantitative, and FISH analyses.