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The roles of gonadotrophins in the regulation of primordial ovarian follicular development remains unclear. The aims of the present study were to investigate the effects of LH alone or in combination with FSH on the survival, activation and growth of in vitro caprine primordial follicles, using histology and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). To this end, samples of the caprine ovarian cortex were cultured for 1 or 7 days (39 °C), in an atmosphere of 5% CO2, in minimum essential medium (MEM—control medium) supplemented with different concentrations of LH (0, 1, 5, 10, 50 or 100 ng/ml—Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, the control medium was supplemented with FSH (50 ng/ml) and the different concentrations of LH (0, 1, 5, 10 or 50 ng/ml also used). Small samples of non-cultured ovarian tissue, as well as those cultured for 1 or 7 days in a specific medium were processed for classical histological evaluation and TEM to evaluate the follicular integrity and to calculate the percentage of normal follicles. Additionally, the effects of FSH on the oocyte and follicle diameters of the cultured follicles were evaluated. Results showed that after 7 days of culture, the presence of LH (10, 50 or 100 ng/ml) in the culture media significantly increases the percentage of developing follicles (P |
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