Collected COCs were washed three times in PBS supplemented with 3 mg/ml BSA (crystallized BSA, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA),
100 IU/ml penicilline G potassium (Meiji Seika, Tokyo, Japan) and 100 μg/ml streptomycin (Meiji Seika). The COCs were cultured in
groups of 50 in four-well dishes (Nunc, Roskilde, Denmark) with 500 μl TCM-199 (Gibco-BRL, Grand Island, NY, USA) supplemented
with 1, 5, 10 and 15% sericin solution (substantially 0.01, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15% sericin/medium) or 5% FBS (Tissue Culture
Biologicals, Tulare, CA, USA), 1 μg/ml estradiol (17b-estradiol, Sigma) and 0.002 AU/ml FSH (Antrin R, Kawasakimitaka, Tokyo,
Japan) for 20–22 h at 38.5 C in an atmosphere of 5% CO2 in air with maximum humidity. After IVM, the nuclei of oocytes
were stained with 1% orcein, and the metaphase II (MII) rates were examined.