Female fertility is dependent on a number of factors, one of which is oocyte quality. The developing oocyte is highly susceptible to environmental stresses that have detrimental effects on oocyte and as embryo competence. During oocyte maturation, somatic cells (granulosa, cumulus cells) promote developmental competence of the oocyte. Recently, we identified the presence of GAS5, a long non-coding RNA, in human cumulus cells. In other systems, GAS5 regulates important cell survival pathways during stress conditions. In particular, progesterone and glucocorticoid receptors, which are known to be of great importance in female reproduction, are modulated by interacting with exon 12 of the GAS5 transcripts. However, the role of GAS5 in oocyte maturation and early embryo development still remains unknown. Using a PCR strategy, with cloning and sequencing, we have identified several prominent Gas5 transcript variants present in mouse granulosa cells, cumulus-oocyte complexes and pre-implantation embryos up to blastocyst stage. The abundance and differential splicing of Gas5 isoforms are modulated in COCs and embryos. Sequence analysis indicated that among the 12 exons in the full length gene, novel transcripts which include exon 12 but have exon 7 spliced out was the most common isoform. Additionally, using qPCR, we have quantitated the expression of Gas5 during the peri-ovulatory period, and found that Gas5 was significantly up-regulated at 8h post-hCG stimulation, with the majority of expression occurring in the granulosa cells. These findings are among the first to identify the importance of long non-coding RNA in reproductive outcomes and will contribute to our building knowledge on the impact of stresses on female fertility.