Evidence shows that luteinising hormone (LH) participates in enhancing the transition from early to antral stage of folliculogenesis. Functional LH receptor was demonstrated be expressed, albeit at a very low level, even smaller follicles during phase traditionally considered gonadotropin-independent suggesting role for accelerating rate progression non-growing and primary preantral/antral stag...

This manuscript reviews the present knowledge related to folliculogenesis in sheep.Folliculogenesis starts with formation of primordial follicles before birth, present as a pool containing a certain number of follicles. By the attainment of puberty, a group of follicles from that pool starts to grow, a process known as primordial follicle activation or recruitment. The number of growing primord...

Background: Cryopreservation of oocytes is an effective technology in assisted reproductive technology. Although successful vitrification of gametes has been reported in several mammalian species, the survival is generally low. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) on preantral follicle development after vitrifi...

Background: Growth differentiation factor -9B (GDF-9B) is an oocyte derived growth factor, this protein is essential for development of ovarian follicles and act mainly by binding to its receptor on the surface of granulosa cells. The effect of this factor on the growth of follicles in various developmental stages particularly primordial and primary follicles is unknown. The aim of this study w...

Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) in women is secreted by granulosa cells in late preantral and small antral follicles. AMH seems to be a very stable marker having some advantages over other biochemical and biophysical markers and is very useful in the assessment of ovarian reserve. AMH measurement may be used in cases of premature ovarian failure, including iatrogenic, due to treatment for cancer, ...