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Development of the Ovary in the Embryo, Infancy, Childhood, Pre-puberty and Puberty

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Cell Death in Mammalian Ovary

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Abstract

The hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal system becomes activated in the human fetus. Negative feedback becomes operative towards term. During infancy gonadotropin concentration increases steroid secretion more in boys than in girls. The signification of this early hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal activation is not known. During infancy serum concentration of gonadotropins appear to be ­sufficient to maintain growing follicles to small antral stage. In the absence of appropriated levels of LH, FSH or both, these follicles are unable to enter the preovulatory stage. In infantile rodents there is an accelerated loss of follicles from the resting pool during the initial waves of follicle growth. The presence of atretic processes during childhood was described in human and rat ovaries. Puberty involves the reactivation of GnRH pulse generator by removal of central system restrain. A large number of oocytes of rats from newborn to puberty are eliminated by means of different cell death processes: apoptosis, autophagy and a mixed process in which both routes participate in the same cell.

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Abbreviations

ADP:

Adenyl di-phosphate

DAPI:

4’, 6-Diamidino-2-phenylindole. Blue fluorescent dye that intercalates between DNA bases and stains it specifically

FSH:

Follicle-stimulating hormone

GnRH:

Gonadotropin releasing hormone

LAMP-1:

Lysosomal associated membrane protein 1

LH:

Luteinizing hormone

PCR:

Polymerase chain reaction

RNA:

Ribonucleic acid

RT-PCR:

Real time PCR

TUNEL:

Terminal Deoxy-UTP nick end labeling. Procedure that detects DNA breaks typical of apoptosis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Electron Microscopy, Department of Cell Biology, Faculty of Sciences, National University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico

    Gerardo H. Vázquez-Nin, María Luisa Escobar & Olga M. Echeverría

  2. Department of Public Health and Cell Biology, University of Rome, Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

    Massimo De Felici

Authors
  1. Gerardo H. Vázquez-Nin
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  2. María Luisa Escobar
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  3. Olga M. Echeverría
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  4. Massimo De Felici
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Correspondence to Gerardo H. Vázquez-Nin .

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Vázquez-Nin, G.H., Escobar, M.L., Echeverría, O.M., De Felici, M. (2011). Development of the Ovary in the Embryo, Infancy, Childhood, Pre-puberty and Puberty. In: Cell Death in Mammalian Ovary. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1134-1_3

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