Long term perifusion of rabbit ovarian follicles

Preovulatory follicles were dissected from ovaries of estrous rabbits. Four follicles were placed in each chamber of a perifusion system. Medium 199, containing 10% rabbit serum and antibiotics, eluted through the chambers at a rate of 1 ml/10 min. Every 6 h for 36 h, 1 microgram of LH and 50 ng of FSH were injected into each chamber. P4, T and E2 were measured in the medium. P4 exhibited a peak after each of the injections at 6, 12, 18, 24 and 30 h. E2 and T gave major peaks after the injection at 0 time, with minor peaks after the injection at 6 h; thereafter T and E2 secretion gradually decreased to levels below those of baseline.