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Unexpected oocyte growth after follicular antrum formation in four marsupial species

Summary. During examination of maturing preovulatory marsupial oocytes we noted that oocyte diameters were invariably about 50% greater than the figures reported in earlier histological studies. As all previous investigations were limited to small follicles (at most 25% the size of the ovulating follicle), the present study was initiated to examine oocyte growth during the whole period of follicular development. Oocyte and follicle diameters were measured for three Australian (Trichosurus vulpecula, Macropus eugenii and Bettongia penicillata – fresh nonfixed material) and one American marsupial species (Monodelphis domestica – histological sections) in which multiple follicle development had been induced by exogenous gonadotrophin treatment. In all species oocytes were obtained from follicles ranging from pre-antral to immediately pre-ovulatory (maximum follicle sizes obtained were: T. vulpecula, 4·5 mm; M. eugenii, 4·3 mm; B. penicillata, 2·5 mm; M. domestica, 0·7 mm). In two of the species (T. vulpecula and B. penicillata) ovulated oocytes were also examined.

In T. vulpecula and M. eugenii oocytes were found to achieve much greater diameters than previously reported from histological studies of small follicles (<0·8 mm) and similar patterns of growth were found in the other two species. In the four species oocytes reached diameters about two to three times that found for eutherian mammals. It was concluded that the marsupial oocyte continued to grow after formation of the follicular antrum and that, although the rate of oocyte growth slowed in larger follicles, it continued into the period immediately before ovulation. In B. penicillata the largest oocytes were obtained after ovulation. The increases in diameter corresponded to a three to four times increase in the volume of oocytes from follicular antrum formation to ovulation.

These data, and our earlier observations on cortical granule formation, suggest that the marsupial oocyte operates on a very different developmental timetable from the eutherian oocyte. The most likely basis of the observed late growth is the accumulation of'yolk'.

Keywords: oocyte growth; antral Graafian follicles; marsupial; common brushtail possum; tammar wallaby; brush-tailed bettong; opossum; Monodelphis

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