Abstract: 44

USE OF AN OVARIAN BIOPSY TO PREDICT SURFACE FOLLICLE NUMBERS ON THE BOVINE OVARY.

JH Britt^{1 *}, RA Cushman^{1 *}, VS Hedgpeth¹ , DW Shaw^{2 *}
Dept of Anatomy, Physiological Sciences and Radiology, NC State University, Raleigh, NC ¹
Dept of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH ²

To determine if there were positive relationships between numbers of preantral follicles in an ovarian biopsy and numbers of surface follicles, bovine ovaries (n = 10) from random days of the estrous cycle were collected. Number of Small (1.0-3.0 mm), Medium (3.1-7.0 mm), and Large (> 7.0 mm) follicles were counted. A tissue sample (1 cm × 1 cm × 0.5 mm) and biopsy (1.5 mm × 1 mm × 0.5 mm) were taken from each ovary. Tissues were fixed in Bouin's solution, embedded in paraffin, and sectioned serially (6 µm). Sections were stained with a Periodic acid-Schiff reaction and hematoxylin. Primordial, primary, secondary and tertiary follicles = 1mm in diameter were counted in all samples. Correlations among numbers of microscopic and surface follicles for tissue and biopsy samples were determined. The biopsy was an efficient method of collecting preantral follicles (means: primordial = 21.8 ± 6.9, primary = 14.7 ± 5.6, secondary = 0.7 ± 0.3, tertiary = 0.2 ± 0.13). However, there were no significant correlations (p > 0.05) between numbers of microscopic follicles in the biopsy and numbers of preantral follicles in the tissue sample or numbers of surface follicles. Total number of microscopic follicles in the tissue sample was correlated positively (p < 0.05) with number of Medium surface follicles. We conclude that the number of follicles in the biopsy is not predictive of the number of follicles in the ovary; however, the biopsy is useful for collecting preantral follicles.

    This abstract is being presented on Sunday, August 1 at 8:00 AM to 10:15 AM at CUB 2nd Floor Ballroom.