The culture of tissue from the ovary of the goldfish Carassius auratus.

Small pieces of ovarian tissue derived from immature goldfish have been maintained in culture periods of up to three months. The progress of the culture was monitored by light and electron microscopy and showed that although degenerative changes occurred in the large oocytes the small oocytes and oogonia survived for the duration of the culture. Quantitative studies indicate that both oogonia and small oocytes increase in number during the first three weeks of culture and observations from experiments using 3H-thymidine support the idea that a limited proliferation can occur using the relatively simple technique described.