AUTONOMIC NERVES MEDIATING CONTRACTILITY IN THE HUMAN GRAAFIAN FOLLICLE

Abstract

Material obtained from 32-48-yr-old patients undergoing abdominal hysterectomy was studied. A fluorescent histochemistry technique showed green-fluorescent adrenergic nerve terminals, running in an essentially meridional fashion in the wall of the whole Graafian follicle except for the most attenuated apex region. Away from the apex, the number of non-vascular nerve terminals increased and was highest in the intra-ovarian part of the follicle. Adrenergic nerves were also demonstrated by EM in follicular material 1st incubated for 30 min in a Krebs-Ringer buffer solution containing 100 .mu.g of the false adrenergic transmitter, 5-hydroxydopamine/ml and subsequently fixed in 3% KMnO4. In the human ovary, the autonomic nervous system can apparently affect the mechanical activity of the follicular wall and intrafollicular pressure and suggests the possibility of a neurogenic influence on the gonadotropin-controlled follicular development and ovulation process.