Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Ovarian follicle dominance is the process where one or more follicles are selected per cycle to ovulate. In female mammals , each ovulatory cycle , or menstrual cycle in humans , a set number of ovarian follicles ovulate, each follicle releasing an egg that can be fertilised .
An ovarian follicle is a roughly spheroid cellular aggregation set found in the ovaries. It secretes hormones that influence stages of the menstrual cycle . At the time of puberty , women have approximately 200,000 to 300,000 follicles, [ 1 ] [ 2 ] each with the potential to release an egg cell (ovum) at ovulation for fertilization . [ 3 ]
Follicles that have fewer FSH-receptors will not be able to develop further; they will show retardation of their growth rate and become atretic. Eventually, only one follicle will be viable. This remaining follicle, called the dominant follicle, will grow quickly and dramatically—up to 20 mm in diameter—to become the preovulatory follicle.
The rise in FSH levels recruits five to seven tertiary-stage ovarian follicles (this stage follicle is also known as a Graafian follicle or antral follicle) for entry into the menstrual cycle. These follicles, that have been growing for the better part of a year in a process known as folliculogenesis, compete with each other for dominance. [5]
Menstrual cycle The menstrual cycle is a series of natural changes in hormone production and the structures of the uterus and ovaries of the female reproductive system that makes pregnancy possible. The ovarian cycle controls the production and release of eggs and the cyclic release of estrogen and progesterone. The uterine cycle governs the preparation and maintenance of the lining of the ...
Ovulation occurs about midway through the menstrual cycle, after the follicular phase, and is followed by the luteal phase.Note that ovulation is characterized by a sharp spike in levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), resulting from the peak of estrogen levels during the follicular phase.
Only one follicle will be mature enough to release an egg and may be fertilized. [5] Typically around 20 follicles mature each month but only a single follicle is ovulated; the follicle from which the oocyte was released becomes the corpus luteum. The corpus luteum is the last stage of the ovarian follicles' lifecycle.
The follicle first forms a corpus hemorrhagicum before it becomes a corpus luteum, but the term refers to the visible collection of blood, left after rupture of the follicle, that secretes progesterone. While the oocyte (later the zygote if fertilization occurs) traverses the fallopian tube into the uterus, the corpus luteum remains in the ovary.