The preantral-early antral follicle transition is the penultimate stage of follicular development in terms of gonadotropin dependence and follicle destiny (growth versus atresia). Follicular growth during this period is tightly regulated by oocyte-granulosa-theca cell interactions. Formation of the theca cell layer is a key event that occurs during this transitional stage. Granulosal factor(s) ...

Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 9 was compared with FGF2 in its ability to influence proliferation, differentiation, terminal differentiation and apoptosis in a rat calvaria-derived cell line (RCJ 3.1C5.18) that spontaneously undergoes chondrocyte differentiation in vitro. Like FGF2, FGF9 promoted proliferation, but to a lesser extent. In contrast to FGF2, which blocked chondrocytic differentiat...

Few studies have demonstrated plasticity of egg size within the confines of an egg size-number trade-off in response to trophic conditions in fishes. Moreover, the physiological mechanisms that govern this plasticity are not known. Growth differentiation factor 9 (Gdf9) and bone morphogenetic factor 15 (Bmp15) are oocyte-specific factors implicated in follicular growth and ovulation in mammals....

the booroola fecundity gene (fecb) and growth differentiation factor 9 (gdf9) gene belong to the transforming growth factor β (tgf-β) superfamily. the mutations of these genes have additive effects on the prolificacy in sheep. the aim of the present study was to determine the possible mutations of fecb and fecgh genes in lory sheep breed of the lorestan province, iran. sixty blood samples were ...

objective(s): the present day challenge is how to obtain germ cells from stem cells to treat patients with cancer and infertility. much more efforts have been made to develop a procedure for attaining germ cells in vitro. recently, human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (humscs) have been introduced with higher efficacy for differentiation. in this work, we tried to explore the eff...