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 summa-rized: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.
JIN Xuan & LIU Yixun State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biololgy, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China
Embryo in uterine implantation is a complex and multifactor-related process and is a downstream and ideal point for woman fertility control. Understanding the cellular and molecular mechanism of implantation is a prerequisite for development of anti-implantation contraceptives. In spite of considerable accumulation of information from the laboratory animals that has been achieved, it is difficult to generate such information in human due to ethical restriction and experimental limitation, and the present knowledge for understanding the definitive mechanisms which control these events remains elusive. Embryo implantation can also occur outside uterus. Some women with abdominal pregnancies could successfully complete the processes of gestation and bear normal babies, implying that implantation itself may be not an endometrium-specific process. Reproductive biologists should cooperate with gynecologists to further comparatively study the molecular and cellular mechanisms of implantation normally occurring in endometrium and abnormally appearing outside uterine cavity. Such collaborative studies may generate new important information for developing anti-implantation contraceptive and for techniques of accurate diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy. A specially designed GnRH-2 analog and a combination use of low dose RU486 and gossypol as anti-implantation contraceptives have been suggested. Keywords embryo implantation - implantation window - materno-embryonic dialogue - ectopic pregnancy
