Figure 1

(A) Growth of ovine preantral follicles in control medium (open circles) or in the presence of activin A (10 ng/ml, closed circles; 100 ng/ml, triangles). Values are mean ± SEM. Growth is significant between Days 0 and 6 within treatment groups (p < 0.001). Activin A, at both concentrations, stimulated follicular growth over control levels by Day 6 of culture (p < 0.05). (B) Oestradiol production by ovine preantral follicles cultured in control medium (black bars), or in the presence of activin A [10 ng/ml (open bars), 100 ng/ml (striped bars)]. Values are mean ± SEM. Both concentrations of activin increased oestradiol concentration over control levels on Day 2 (p < 0.01), but there were no differences between groups on Day 4 and 6 of culture.