The oocyte maturation inhibitor (OMI) is an inhibitory factor created by follicular cells during a

primary oocyte An oocyte (, ), 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 ge ...

maturation. It is believed to be the reason why the oocyte remains for so long in the immature

dictyate The dictyate or dictyoteneMedical Physiology, Boron & Boulpaep, , Elsevier Saunders 2005. Updated edition. 1300 pages. is a prolonged resting phase in oogenesis. It occurs in the stage of meiotic prophase I in ootidogenesis. It starts late in fet ...

state of

meiosis Meiosis (; , since it is a reductional division) is a special type of cell division of germ cells in sexually-reproducing organisms that produces the gametes, such as sperm or egg cells. It involves two rounds of division that ultimately resu ...

References

{{reflist Embryology