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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 ]
An intricate network of capillary vessels forms between these two thecal layers and begins to circulate blood to and from the follicle. The late-term secondary follicle is marked histologically and structurally by a fully grown oocyte surrounded by a zona pellucida, approximately nine layers of granulosa cells, a basal lamina, a theca interna ...
The ovulated follicles come from a larger pool of growing follicles Follicle dominance results from competition between follicles from this growing pool, as only some will be selected for further development. These selected follicles are known as the dominant follicles. In humans, there is usually only one dominant follicle per cycle. [1]
However, many species produce a far greater number of eggs during their lifetime than do humans, so that, in fish and amphibians, there may be hundreds, or even millions of fertile eggs present in the ovary at any given time. In these species, fresh eggs may be developing from the germinal epithelium throughout life.
Ovulation is an important part of the menstrual cycle in female vertebrates where the egg cells are released from the ovaries as part of the ovarian cycle.In female humans ovulation typically occurs near the midpoint in the menstrual cycle and after the follicular phase.
In human adult females, the primordial follicle is composed of a single oocyte surrounded by a layer of closely associated granulosa cells. In early stages of the ovarian cycle, the developing follicle acquires a layer of connective tissue and associated blood vessels. This covering is called the theca.
The stroma of the ovary is a unique type of connective tissue abundantly supplied with blood vessels, consisting for the most part of spindle-shaped stroma cells. These appear similar to fibroblasts. The stroma also contains ordinary connective tissue such as reticular fibers and collagen. Ovarian stroma differs from typical connective tissue ...
The ovary is generally thought of as an egg bank from which the woman draws during her reproductive life. The human ovary contains a population of primordial follicles.At 18–22 weeks post-conception, the female ovary contains its peak number of follicles (about 300,000 in the average case, but individual peak populations range from 35,000 to 2.5 million [3]). p The size of the initial ...