Reproduction Abstracts

The ‘old’ science base generally casts androgens as ‘bad’ for folliculogenesis: agents of follicular atresia and directly involved in reproductive pathologies such as PCOS. A more recent literature has mapped cellular sites of androgen formation and action within the ovarian follicle, pinpointing theca as the source and granulosa its target. Molecular studies have located the androgen receptor (AR) to granulosa cells, functionally coupled to FSH-regulated (...

The LH surge induces ovulation and events associated with this process: oocyte meiotic maturation, cumulus cell–oocyte complex (COC) expansion, and release of mature (MII arrested) oocytes within the expanded cumulus cell complex matrix. Oocytes and cumulus cells express few if any LH receptors whereas mural granulosa cells exhibit high levels of this gonadotropin receptor. Therefore, in response to the LH surge granulosa cells are presumed to secrete growth factors that ...

There are several key stages in the development of a reproductively competent ovary. These include: i) successful migration of the primordial germ cells and associated precursor somatic cells to the genital ridge, ii) the entry and maintenance of the developing germ cells in meiotic arrest, iii) the accumulation of pre-granulosa cells by oocytes to form primordial follicles, and iv) the maintenance of the primordial follicles in a quiescent state. This population of inactive p...