title: Characterization of in vitro growth of bovine preantral ovarian follicles: A preliminary study.
abstract: Preantral follicles were mechanically extracted from bovine ovaries collected at slaughter. On average 90 early growing follicles were collected per ovary. The follicles were cultured for 7 days in Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium F-12 nutrient mixture + 10% fetal calf serum + 10% newborn calf serum. The individual follicular diameter and the follicular DNA content were recorded at the start and the end of culture. The follicular DNA content was estimated by a microfluorometric method using the fluorochrome, 4'-6 diamidino-2-phenylindol-2HCl (DAPI). After culture, 86% of the follicles looked morphologically normal. Of the surviving follicles, 73% showed an increase in diameter varying between 5 and 30 mum, and the follicular DNA content increased from 1 to 72% under the same culture conditions. These results indicate that bovine preantral follicles can survive in vitro and even grow in a single medium.
authors.affiliation: Université Catholique de Louvain Sciences Vétérinaires Place Croix du Sud 3-B 1348 Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nuttinck
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mermillod
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Massip
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dessy