Basic mechanisms of ovarian endocrine function.

This review outlines the current understanding of ovarian endocrine development and regulation with both physiological and biochemical background to provide a framework applicable to problems concerning environmental agents and ovarian endocrine function. Two approaches are used. First, the endocrine regulation of follicle development and corpus luteum function is considered in the classical sense, i.e., viewing these structures as gonadotropin-responsive units undergoing a programmed sequence of development and differentiation. Secondly, a relatively new area of ovarian physiology concerned with intra-ovarian regulation is explored, since this area holds potential for exploration of the direct effects of toxicological or environmental agents upon gonadal endocrine cells.