secondary ovarian follicle

antral follicle of ovary

A maturing ovarian follicle that has two more more layers of granulosa cells, up to the onset of antrum formation.

Typ Organ
Übergeordnete Struktur ovarian follicle
Lateinischer Name antral follicle of ovary
FMA ID 18637

Häufig gestellte Fragen

What distinguishes a secondary ovarian follicle from primary and antral follicles?
A secondary ovarian follicle has two or more layers of granulosa cells (stratified granulosa epithelium) around the primary oocyte, and has begun to develop a surrounding theca cell layer, but has not yet formed a fluid-filled antrum. Once antrum formation begins, it becomes a tertiary (antral) follicle.
What is the theca cell layer and when does it appear in folliculogenesis?
The theca cell layer develops from stromal cells that are recruited by the growing follicle at the secondary stage. The theca interna cells develop LH receptors and will produce androgens (androstenedione), which are converted to estrogens by granulosa cells — the two-cell model of steroidogenesis.
How many secondary follicles are typically present in the ovary?
At any given time, both ovaries together contain thousands of follicles at various stages of development. Secondary follicles represent an intermediate stage that most follicles pass through before either advancing to the antral stage or undergoing atresia (degeneration), which eliminates the vast majority of developing follicles.

Verwandte Strukturen

mucus body coating mucous body coating mucus cocoon mucous cocoon Mullerian duct ductus paramesonephricus multi cell part structure cell part cluster multicellular anatomical structure multicellular structure multilaminar epithelium laminated epithelium multi-tissue structure multi-tissue structures multi-unit eye

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Data sources: Terminologia Anatomica, Foundational Model of Anatomy, Wikidata.