BACKGROUND We sought to identify indicators of antral follicle count which would be serviceable to clinicians seeking to estimate the number of ovarian follicles without relying on sonographic counts. METHODS We examined the relations of chronological age and four potential indicators of ovarian age-ovarian volume, FSH, dimeric inhibin B and estradiol-to antral follicle count in 176 recently ...

Fas ligand (FasL) and its receptor Fas have been implicated in granulosa cell apoptosis during follicular atresia. Although interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) is believed to be involved in the regulation Fas expression in differentiated granulosa or granulosa-luteal cells, the expression of this cytokine and its role in the regulation of the granulosa cell Fas/FasL system and apoptosis during follicular ...

Progression of preantral follicle development is essential to further follicle maturation and ovulation, but there are few models for studying the regulation of preantral follicle survival and growth. We have evaluated preantral follicle survival in vivo and in vitro, and have developed a serum-free rat follicle culture system that can be used to characterize the regulation of preantral follicl...

Follicular atresia is a phenomenon that leads to evacuation of the ovary from the oocytes and the occurrence of menopause. The contribution of various types of cell death in atresia at different follicular developmental stages requires extensive investigation. In this study, we evaluated 3 types of programmed </...

The inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) constitute a family of highly conserved apoptosis suppressor proteins that was originally identified in baculoviruses. Although IAP homologs have been recently identified and demonstrated to suppress apoptosis in mammalian cells, their expression and role during follicular development and atresia are unknown. The present study was conducted to address ...

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the compare of Conventional (CV) and Direct Cover (DCV) vitrification and effect of sodium selenite(SS) that supplemented with FBS and BSA on reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and glutathione peroxide (GPx) activity of cultured pre-antral follicles derived from vitrified and non-vitrified ovarian tissu...

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 ...

The predominant pattern of follicle development in pigs is characterized by continuous activation, slow growth to the antral stage, and rapid growth to 4 to 5 mm followed by atresia. The only time that this pattern is broken is when a small portion of the follicle population is selected for ovulation. The mechanisms that regulate the selection of ovulatory follicles are not well understood. How...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of sodium selenite (SS) on reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and glutathione peroxide (GPx) activity of cultured pre-antral follicles derived from vitrified and non-vitrified ovarian tissue. METHODS Immature mouse ovaries were vitrified, and mechanically isolated pre-antral follicles from v...