Figure 3

Stages of follicle maturation in the ovarian cortex.

(a) Panoramic optical section of small ovarian follicles embedded in the collagen network. Primordial follicle marked with an arrow is 12 μm in diameter. (b) Optical section of late secondary follicles with separation on theca interna and theca externa. (c) Optical section through secondary follicles, with visible oocytes and separation between mural granulosa and cumulus cells (ex-vivo). (d) Optical section through growing antral follicle. (e) Optical section through corpus luteum. (f) Corpus luteum with visualized blood vessels upon injection with TRITC-dextran. pf – primordial follicle, PF – primary follicle, TE – theca externa, TI – theca interna, C – collagen, N – nucleus, O – oocyte, CC – cumulus cells, MG – mural granulosa, LC – luteal cells, BV – blood vessels. Magenta – NADH, yellow – second harmonic generation, red – TRITC-dextran. a, b, c and e were imaged ex-vivo in excised ovaries. d and f were imaged in-vivo in the imaging window.