Although earlier studies focused on the hormonal regulation of antral and preovulatory follicles, recent studies indicate the importance of the hormonal control mechanism for preantral follicles. The endocrine hormone FSH is not only a survival factor for early antral follicles but also a potent growth and differentiation factor for preantral follicles. In addition, KGF secreted by theca cells ...

The developmental requirements of ovarian follicles are dependent on the maturation stage of the follicle; in particular, elegant studies with genetic models have indicated that FSH is required for antral, but not preantral, follicle growth and maturation. To elucidate further the role of FSH and other regulatory molecules in preantral follicle development, in vitro culture systems are needed. ...

Background: With all the recent advances in cancer treatments, many young cancer patients find themselves facing the prospect of losing their fertility after aggressive chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Cryopreservation of ovarian cortical tissue has emerged as a potential option to restore fertility in these young women. Materials and Methods: Because autotransplantation of cryopreserved ovarian c...

In vitro follicle growth is a potential approach to preserve fertility for young women who are facing a risk of premature ovarian failure (POF) caused by radiation or chemotherapy. Our two-step follicle culture strategy recapitulated the dynamic human follicle growth environment in vitro. Follicles developed from the preantral to antral stage, and, for the first time, produced meiotically compe...

A whole follicle culture system has been used to investigate the actions of gonadotrophic hormones, oestrogen and progesterone in the regulation of follicular development and steroidogenesis. Recombinant human FSH was required for the growth of preantral follicles and for Graafian morphogenesis, whereas recombinant LH was ineffective. While pure FSH was sufficient for growth and morphogenesis, ...

The TGFβ superfamily comprises several bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP) capable of exerting gonadotropin-independent effects on the development of small preantral follicles. In embryonic tissues, BMP concentration gradients, partly formed by antagonistic factors, are essential for establishing phenotypic fate. By examining the expression of candidate genes whose protein products are known to i...

Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is a member of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily, which plays an important role in both ovarian primordial follicle recruitment and dominant follicle selection in mice. However, the role of AMH in folliculogenesis in humans has not been investigated in detail. In the present study, AMH expression was assessed using immunohistochemistry in ovarian secti...

Preantral follicles are of great abundance in mammalian ovaries and the vast majority (>99.9%) never become ovulatory; therefore, the ability to rescue these otherwise wasted follicles seems very appealing. Considering there are striking similarities in antral follicle dynamics between mares and women, the mare might become a good model to study early (preantral and antral) folliculogenesis in ...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate follicular growth and steroid production in neonatal mouse ovary during in vitro culture. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this experimental study, 7-day-old mouse whole ovaries were cultured in α-MEM (medium supplemented with 100 mIU/ml recombinant follicle stimulating hormone, 1% insulin, transferrin and selenium (ITS), 5% fetal bovine serum (FBS)...

background: many attempts have done to improve cryopreservation of mammalian ovaries using simple, economical and efficient technique “vitrification”. objective: the aim of the present study was to compare the mouse ovaries cryopreservation by direct cover vitrification (dcv) using different concentrations of ethylene glycol (eg) with conventional vitrification methods (cv). materials and metho...