Table 2.

Mean follicle and oocyte diameters of each follicular stage in the female lamb ovarian cortex in non-cultured tissue and at 6, 12, and 18 days after culture in control, constant, and sequential media

Day of culture and culture medium	Follicle and oocyte diameter
	Primordial (n = 30)		Primary (n = 30)		Secondary (n = 20)
	Follicle	Oocyte	Follicle	Oocyte	Follicle	Oocyte
0 day non-cultured	27.8 ± 0.7	25.0 ± 0.8	34.1±1.1	26.5 ± 0.6	54.4±1.6	33.7±1.3
After 6 days of culture
Control medium	27.5 ± 0.4	24.5 ± 0.6	37.4±1.4a	28.0±1.1a	57.6 ± 4.8a	34.5±2.1a
Constant medium	28.1±0.6	25.3 ± 0.4	41.1±2.1ab*	32.0 ± 3.2ab*	59.1±3.7Aab	36.4±1.9Aab
Sequential medium	29.2±0.6	25.6 ± 0.7	45.2±2.3b*	33.5±2.7Ab*	63.2±4.3Ab*	41.6±2.6Ab*
After 12 days of culture
Control medium	27.0±1.0	24.8 ± 0.5	38.6 ± 0.9a	28.5±1.5a	58.6 ± 5.4a	35.7±1.7a
Constant medium	27.9 ± 0.5	25.6 ± 0.8	41.5±2.3ab*	33.7±2.8ab*	63.3 ± 6.4Aab*	38.6±2.2Aa*
Sequential medium	28.4 ± 0.7	26.0 ± 0.7	46.1±2.4b*	36.6 ± 3.6ABb*	87.7 ± 8.9Bc*	44.7 ± 3.6Bb*
After 18 days of culture
Control medium	28.1±0.4	25.3 ± 0.9	38.0±2.7a	28.7 ± 0.9a	61.2±5.3a*	37.7±2.8a
Constant medium	28.6 ± 0.3	26.2±0.7	44.2±3.2b*	34.2±3.5b*	79.3 ± 7.6Bb*	42.3 ± 3.8Bb*
Sequential medium	29.1±1.2	25.9 ± 0.7	49.4 ± 3.9c*	39.6±1.4Bc*	102.4±15.7Cc*	52.5 ± 5.6Cc*

^*Significantly different from non-cultured tissue (P < 0.05)

^{a, b}Significantly different between culture media on the same day of culture (P < 0.05)

^{A, B} – Significantly different between days of culture in the same medium (P < 0.05)