FIG. 5.

Typical micrographs showing the development of the early secondary preantral follicles obtained mechanically from the ovaries of deer mice under in vitro culture in HD: with five follicles per drop on day 0 (A), the follicles could form a single aggregate on day 6 in the HD of either the nonconditioned or ovarian cell-CM (B) with high cell viability (C) and the aggregated follicles could further develop to the antral stage (D) if continuously cultured in the HD of the nonconditioned (12.5%) or ovarian cell-conditioned (65%) medium from day 7 to 13. With three follicles per drop on day 0 (E), the follicles could form a single aggregate on day 6 in each HD (F) and the aggregated follicles could further develop to the antral stage (G) if continuously cultured in HD-CM (66.7%). However, with only one follicle per HD of CM on day 0 (H), the follicle degenerated on day 6 (I). Scale bar: 100 μm. Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/tea