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Scanning Microscopy

Abstract

This study investigates rabbit ovarian mesothelial (OM) cells exposed in vitro to a crude corpus luteum extract (CLE; 60 μg/ml). The growth of OM cells was evaluated by measuring the change in cell number (mean % ± standard error of mean, SEM), the number of cell population doublings (CPD ± SEM), and the cell population doubling time in hours (CPDT ± SEM) after 7.5 days of culture in a serum-poor medium. Quantitative estimates of surface morphology changes were obtained by analyzing the total number (mean no. ± SEM), density (mean no./100 μ.m2 ± SEM), and length-to-diameter ratio (mean L/D ± SEM) of microvilli. OM cells in control medium formed loosely cohesive monolayers, and grew 152.53 ± 11.01% with a CPD of 0.59 ± 0.08 and a CPDT of 117.29 ± 6.43 hours. The exposed surface area of these cells was over 8,000 μ.m2 and was covered in its epinuclear region by long and slender microvilli with a L/D of 6.01 ± 0.29. The total number of microvilli in each control cell was 1977.52 ± 120.49 with a density of 0.58 ± 0.03/100 μ.m2 in the epinuclear region and of 0.05 ± 0.003/150 μ.m2 in the remaining surface area (5,161.62 ± 354.43 μ.m2). In contrast, CLE-rich cells cultures grew 329.57 ± 16.65%, with a CPD of 1.71 ± 0.07 and a CPDT of 53.43 + 2.93 hours. These cells formed confluent monolayers of smaller (2104.86 ± 103.71 μ.m2), tightly juxtaposed epithelioid cells with a microvillar density of 0.70 ± 0.03/100 μ.m2 in over 78% of their surface. These data support the existence of an intra-ovarian "factor" capable of enhancing growth and differentiation of OM cells.

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