Abstract
Publisher Summary This chapter discusses acute stimulatory effects of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) and LHRH analogues on the preovulatory rat follicle. In a study described in the chapter, immature Sprague–Dawley rats, 26 days old, were treated with 10 IU PMSG. This treatment resulted in the ovulation of 12–18 ova early on the morning of day 29. Ovarian follicles or granulosa cells were isolated on the morning of day 28. The follicles were incubated in Krebs–Ringer bicarbonate buffer with glucose and 1% bovine serum albumin. Granulosa cells were cultured in Eagle's minimal essential medium with Hepes and 10% fetal calf serum. For the in vivo experiments, the rats were hypophysectomized on the morning of day 28. It was found that mammalian oocytes remain arrested in the prophase stage of the first meiotic division until meiosis is resumed in the preovulatory follicle following the LH surge. Oocyte meiosis can also be initiated in vitro by the addition of gonadotrophin to isolated preovulatory rat follicles.
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