The feasibility of ultrasound biomicroscopy for non-invasive and sequential assessment of ovarian features in rodents.

The current study assessed the usefulness of in vivo high frequency ultrasound imaging (ultrasound biomicroscopy, UBM) for dynamic study of the ovarian structures in laboratory rodents. UBM imaging was performed, by using a 40 MHz probe, in 12 C57BL/6J female mice and four Wistars female rats at breeding age and during different reproductive periods. UBM provided outstanding images of both follicles and corpora lutea in cycling and non-cycling rats and mice and was useful to evaluate the ovarian response after controlled ovarian stimulation in the mouse. Thus, UBM may be a very useful method for reproductive studies in rodents.