Epidermal sheets spread centrifugally postinjury from the hair follicle infundibulum to reepithelialize the wound bed. Healing progresses faster in skin areas rich in terminal hair follicles. These observations are consistent with the role of the hair follicle as a major reservoir for progenitor cells. To evaluate the feasibility and potential healing capacity of autologous scalp follicular gra...

Clathrin interactor 1 [CLINT1] (also called enthoprotin/EpsinR) is an Epsin N-terminal homology (ENTH) domain-containing adaptor protein that functions in anterograde and retrograde clathrin-mediated trafficking between the trans-Golgi network and the endosome. Removal of both Saccharomyces cerevisiae homologs, Ent3p and Ent5p, result in yeast that are viable, but that display a cold-sensitive ...

Ovarian antral follicular development is clearly dependent on pituitary gonadotrophins FSH and LH. Although the endocrine mechanism that controls ovarian folliculogenesis leading to ovulation is quite well understood, the detailed mechanisms and molecular determinants in the different follicular compartments remain to be clarified. The aim of this study was to identify the genes differentially ...

BACKGROUND In mammalian females, reproductive capacity is determined by the size of the primordial follicle pool. During embryogenesis, oogonia divide mitotically but cytokinesis is incomplete so oogonia remain connected in germ cell cysts. Oogonia begin to enter meiosis at 13.5 days postcoitum in the mouse and over several days, oocytes progress through the stages of meiotic prophase I arresti...

In order to investigate potential changes in insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs) during human follicle maturation, we examined the IGFBP profiles in follicular fluid from follicles in different stages of maturation. Samples were obtained from ovaries of women with regular menstrual cycles and of subjects with cycle abnormalities and polycystic ovaries (diagnosed as polycystic o...

The development of ovarian follicles is a unique instance of a morphogenesis process still occurring during adult life and resulting from the interactions between somatic and germ cells. In mammals, the initiation of follicular development from the pool of resting follicles is characterized by an increase in the oocyte size concomitant with the surrounding somatic cells proliferating to build a...

The present paper describes LH and FSH secretion, follicle development and ovulation in sows that were subjected to a limited nursing regimen. From Day 14 of lactation, 32 sows were separated from their piglets for 12 h every day (intermittent suckling; IS). Half the sows had boar contact during separation. Nine of 32 sows ovulated spontaneously within 14 days from initiation of IS. The frequen...

The reproductive strategy for avian species that produce a sequence (or clutch) of eggs is dependent upon the maintenance of a small cohort of viable, undifferentiated (prehierarchal) follicles. It is from this cohort that a single follicle is selected on an approximate daily basis to initiate rapid growth and final differentiation before ovulation. This review describes a working model in whic...

Activated estrogen receptors (ER) in response to estrogen bind to specific sequences (estrogen response elements; ERE) to induce transcription. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the estrogen induced ER binding activity in granulosa cells of antral ovarian follicles can be detected by bioluminescence imaging in vitro, and correlated to estrogen concentrations in follicular flui...

in vitro fertilization (IVF) is one of the most highly pursued assisted reproductive technologies (ART) worldwide. IVF procedure is divided into four stages: Superovulation, Egg-retrieval, Insemination/Fertilization and Embryo transfer. Among these superovulation is the most crucial stage since it involves external injection of hormones to stimulate development and maturation of multiple follic...