Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine/threonine kinase and mTOR signaling is important in regulating cell growth and proliferation. Recent studies using oocyte- and granulosa cell-specific deletion of mTOR inhibitor genes TSC1 or TSC2 demonstrated the important role of mTOR signaling in the promotion of ovarian follicle development. We now report that treatment of ovaries from juveni...

Ovarian follicle development is a complex process that begins with the establishment of what is thought to be a finite pool of primordial follicles and culminates in either the atretic degradation of the follicle or the release of a mature oocyte for fertilization. This review highlights the many advances made in understanding these events using transgenic mouse models. Specifically, this revie...

Ovulation is critical for successful reproduction and correlates with ovarian cancer risk, yet genetic studies of ovulation have been limited. It has long been thought that the mechanism controlling ovulation is highly divergent due to speciation and fast evolution. Using genetic tools available in Drosophila, we now report that ovulation in Drosophila strongly resembles mammalian ovulation at ...

During human ovulation, the fallopian tube fimbriae must move to the ovulation site to catch the oocyte. As the tissue-of-origin of the majority of ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC), the fallopian tube fimbriae carrying a precursor cancer lesion may also approach the ovulatory site for metastasis. We hypothesize that platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) in mature follicle fluid (FF) a...

A specialized quiescent population of hair follicle stem cells, residing in the hair follicle outer root sheath cells (ORSCs), has previously demonstrated pluripotency for differentiation into neural stem cells (NSCs). A previous study indicated that nestin‑positive hair follicle ORSCs are able to differentiate into neurons. However, little has been reported on the isolation of nestin‑negative ...

Segmental vitiligo is a unilateral subtype of characterized by cutaneous depigmentation due to melanocyte loss from the epidermis and hair follicle reservoirs. In many cases, this skin shares several clinical features dysfunctions with herpes zoster (HZ). Thus, we searched sign viral infection presence VZV in samples 40 SV, 3 HZ 10 generalized vitiligo. We observed that nuclear fusion epidermal...

Abstract Background There are many progesterone (P) elevation-related indicators for predicting pregnancy outcomes, including the serum P, P-to-oestradiol ratio (P/E 2 ), P-to-follicle index (PFI), and P-to-mature oocyte (PMOI); however, due to inconsistencies in study populations controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) protocols among studies, these controversial. Moreover, no researchers ha...

BACKGROUND Although anandamide (AEA) had been measured in human follicular fluid and is suggested to play a role in ovarian follicle and oocyte maturity, its exact source and role in the human ovary remains unclear. METHODS AND FINDINGS Immunohistochemical examination of normal human ovaries indicated that the endocannabinoid system was present and widely expressed in the ovarian medulla and ...

The granulosa follicle cell of the Graafian follicle of the rabbit ovary differentiates into a lutein cell involved in steroid synthesis. Cytological events which occur within the granulosa cell of the normally stimulated follicle prior to ovulation have been duplicated by the intrafollicular injection of exogenous gonadotrophin. The luteinization of the granulosa cells involves the accumulatio...