To study the potential involvement of inhibin A (inhA), inhibin B (inhB), activin A (actA) and follistatin (FS) in the recruitment of follicles into the preovulatory hierarchy, growing follicles (ranging from 1 mm to the largest designated F1) and the three most recent postovulatory follicles (POFs) were recovered from laying hens (n=11). With the exception of <4 mm follicles and POFs, follicle...

In the study, the gene expression of several heat shock proteins (HSPs) was determined in normal follicles and cystic follicles from cattle. A lower expression of HSP10 and HSP40 was observed in granulosa and theca cells of cysts compared to normal follicles. HSP27 was significantly less expressed in granulosa cells in cystic and large antral follicles than in other follicular categories. HSP60...

BACKGROUND The aim of the present study was to determine the intrafollicular concentrations of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), inhibin-B and steroids in normal human small antral follicles and to relate them to follicular size. METHODS A group of 103 women having one ovary removed for fertility preservation by cryopreservation prior to gonadotoxic treatment served as a source of a total of 272 ...

The 3 beta- and steroid delta-isomerase 1 (HSD3B1) gene has a great influence on reproductive traits therefore been widely studied. However, little is known about the relationships between polymorphisms of HSD3B1 laying in Taihang chickens. Therefore, was selected for polymorphism detection analysis its relationship with performance traits. mRNA expression levels 16 tissues chickens were detect...

Follicular atresia has been examined previously by various biochemical and histological methods. The aim of this study was to compare, for the first time, detection of granulosa cell apoptosis by biochemical DNA analysis and microscopic examination of fresh granulosa cell morphology with the established method of detecting atresia by histology in equine follicles. DNA extracted from granulosa c...

This study aimed to evaluate mRNA levels of angiotensin II (ANG II) receptors (AGTR1 and AGTR2) in caprine follicles and to investigate the influence of ANG II on the viability and in vitro growth of preantral follicles. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to quantify AGTR1 and AGTR2 mRNA levels in the different follicular stages. For culture, caprine ovaries were collected, cut ...

BACKGROUND The growth pattern of the smallest ovarian follicles in humans is still incompletely documented. Using follicle hemispheres in thick histological sections, morphometric changes of primordial to primary follicles and possible age-related effects were evaluated. METHODS In ovarian sections from 25 females aged 4-39 years a total of 1122 primordial, transitory or primary follicles wer...

The aims of this study were to verify the steady-state level of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) mRNA in goat follicles at various developmental stages and to investigate the influence of VIP on the survival, antrum formation and growth of secondary follicles cultured for 6 days. Primordial, primary and secondary goat follicles and small and large antral follicles were obtained to quantify V...

Our observations of bovine follicles indicated that the original histological classifications of atresia were inaccurate. A detailed histological, ultrastructural and immunohistochemical study of antral follicles from bovine ovaries collected from an abattoir and from animals whose large follicles had been monitored by ultrasonography was conducted to investigate this further. Nidogen and CD68 ...

Previous investigations of primordial follicle (PF) number in primate ovaries have used biased, model-based techniques that require correction factors based on assumptions regarding cell size, orientation, and shape. We sought to apply several techniques from the "new stereology" to obtain unbiased number estimates. This method involves a hierarchy of systematic random sampling combined with th...