Spontaneous maturation of oocytes isolated from ovaries of immature hypophysectomized rats

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Abstract
Oocytes were collected from preantral follicles (200–300 μ in diameter) from 30‐day‐old immature rats 7 days after hypophysectomy. The ova were cultured in vitro for 17 hrs in a chemically defined medium and scored cytologically for meiotic maturation. Of 534 oocytes that were cultured 89% resumed meiosis; however, 98% of these oocytes arrested in either metaphase or anaphase I. In contrast, 82% of the oocytes isolated from preovulatory follicles (∼600 μ in diameter) of adult proestrus rats progressed to metaphase II. These results are discussed in terms of functional FSH and LH receptors on the granulosa cells.