Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Jul 21.
Published in final edited form as: Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2011 Nov 12;356(0):65–73. doi: 10.1016/j.mce.2011.11.002

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of follicles at different stages of maturation and primary regulatory signals.

Fig. 1

During preantral follicle growth, oocytes are not competent to reenter meiosis. With the formation of the antrum, the NPPC/NPR2 paracrine regulation becomes active and maintains oocytes arrested in meiotic prophase via regulation of intrafollicular and oocyte cGMP. With the LH surge, a switch in paracrine regulation takes place with inactivation of the NPPC/NPR2 module and activation of EGF-like growth factors and the PGE2 paracrine regulations. The enlargement of a GV oocyte included in the figure summarized the components of the cAMP signaling pathway involved in meiotic arrest and functional in an antral preovulatory follicle.