22 - In vitro culture of human primordial follicles

Summary

This chapter discusses the current achievements obtained with in vitro culture of female germ cells and primordial ovarian follicles and the attempts to improve their development by adding various factors to the culture medium. Ovarian cortical tissue is mainly populated with primordial and primary follicles and is the major source of immature oocytes for in vitro folliculogenesis. Three major approaches in follicle culture techniques can be distinguished: culture of ovarian cortical tissue, culture of entire ovaries, and culture of isolated follicles. Knowledge of the function of the majority of growth factors acting on the activation of resting primordial follicles into the growth phase, with subsequent follicular development to further stages of folliculogenesis, has been mainly obtained from animal models. Follicular development in vitro is assessed by counting the number of follicles of various stages in control versus the number in studied samples throughout the culture period.