Follicular growth,differentiation and atresia

Only limited numbers of primordial follicles in mammalian ovary grow and differentiate to reach the stage of dominate follicles and ovulate. 99% of the follicles in the ovary undergo atresia at various stages of development. Regulation of follicular growth, development and atresia is a complex process and involves interactions between endocrine factors and intraovarian regulators. This review summarized:ⅰ) FSH may not be a survival factor in regulating slow-growing preantral follicles. Some locally produced growth factors, activin and orphan receptors might play a more important role at this stage. ⅱ) Estrogen, activin/inhibin and follistatin coordinate with FSH to regulate and control follicle differentiation. ⅲ) There are two types of follicular atresia induced by apoptosis which originates from GC or oocyte, respectively. Early translation of tPA mRNA into tPA protein in oocyte may be associated with oocyte apoptosis.