Fig. 2.

In vitro follicle culture system. a Multilayer secondary follicles (120–150 μm in diameter) of C57/Bl6 mice at postnatal days 13–16 were encapsulated in 0.5 % alginate and in vitro cultured in the presence or absence of 10 mIU/ml (1–3 ng/ml) recombinant human FSH to the antral follicle stage. The follicles were isolated from 6 different mice in at least 3 different experiments with more than 60 follicles evaluated. b–c Box and whisker plots indicate the median, interquartile range, and minimum and maximum values for the follicle volume fold change during culture. Dashed horizontal lines indicate baseline at start of culture. b Growth observed in late multilayer secondary follicles progressing to the antral stage in the presence and absence of 10 mIU/ml recombinant human FSH (120–150 μm in diameter, n = 18 in a representative experiment). Imaging of the follicles cultured without FSH was discontinued after 6 days since they did not appear to grow significantly. c Growth observed in primary follicles (50–89 μm in diameter, n = 15 in two separate experiments) and early secondary follicles (90–120 μm in diameter, n = 17 in two separate experiments) in the presence and absence of 10 mIU/ml recombinant human FSH