DOES APOPTOSIS OCCUR DURING FOLLICULAR ATRESIA IN THE FOLLICULAR WALLS OF THE PORCINE OVARY

In this experiment, the possibility that the follicular-wall cells' death during ovarian follicular atresia occurs as a result of apoptosis was examined. Programmed cell death or apoptosis is a process whereby cells die in a controlled fashion, triggered by changes in levels of specific physiological stimuli. Morphological transformations of the cells are preceded by endonuclease-mediated genomic-DNA cleavage. The analysis of DNA from the theca and granulosa layers of follicles indicated that internucleosomal fragmentation of DNA occurred in atretic granulosa cells but not in atretic theca cells. The healthy granulosa and theca cells in all classes of follicles showed no apoptosis. This paper demonstrates that the death of porcine ovarian-follicle walls can be caused by different processes and, contrary to granulosa cells' apoptosis, either does not or only partly concerns the internal theca layer.