Distribution of follicles in canine ovary - A simple and rapid method for counting follicles.

The distribution of follicles within canine ovarian cortex was evaluated to estimate follicular homogeneity. The analysis of follicular homogeneity prior to ovarian tissue transplantation limits the impact if follicular heterogeneity on experimental results. In this report, ovarian fragments from 14 immature bitches were embedded in OCT compound. Sections (5-μm-thick) were cut on a cryostat and stained with methylene blue. The mean number follicles ranged from 3.7 to 15.6/mm(2) in the 14 ovaries examined. The variance and distortion ranged from 2.05 to 144.30 and -2.09 and 2.01, respectively. The distribution of follicles was considered even, when the variance value was lower than 10 or between 10 and 16; and absolute value of distortion was inferior to 1. The distribution of follicles within ovarian cortex in 9 of 14 bitches was judged uneven. These results indicated that follicles were not homogeneously distributed within the ovarian cortex of the majority of bitches.