Mitchell P A, Burghardt R C
Anat Rec. 1986 Mar;214(3):283-8. doi: 10.1002/ar.1092140307.
Nexuses (gap junctions), the morphological correlates of direct cell-to-cell communication, were consistently detected between granulosa cells of primordial follicles in the ovaries of adult cycling, juvenile, or neonatal mice. To examine the ontogeny of these intercellular channels, the cellular interactions occurring during the fetal stages of folliculogenesis, which culminate in the formation of primordial follicles, were analyzed in ovaries from fetal days 13, 15, 17, and 19. On fetal day 13, the ovary is characterized by clusters of germinal cells and invading rete ovarii cells. The rete cells progressively penetrate the ovary and wall off clusters of oocytes by fetal day 17, at which time rete cells can be recognized as presumptive granulosa cells. Gap junctional contacts can be recognized between rete cells on day 13 and these contacts persist as the cells become recognizable as presumptive granulosa cells throughout ovarian histogenesis. Quantification of junctional contacts from days 15-19 indicated that the number of gap junctions increases with fetal age. In addition heterocellular gap junctional contacts were detected between oocytes and presumptive granulosa cells as early as fetal day 17, indicating that the potential for direct intercellular communication between granulosa cells and oocytes is established from the earliest contact.
缝隙连接（间隙连接）是细胞间直接通讯的形态学关联物，在成年发情期、幼年或新生小鼠卵巢的原始卵泡颗粒细胞之间持续被检测到。为了研究这些细胞间通道的个体发生，对卵泡发生胎儿期（最终形成原始卵泡）卵巢中发生的细胞相互作用进行了分析，所用卵巢取自胚胎第13、15、17和19天。胚胎第13天时，卵巢的特征是生发细胞簇和侵入的卵巢网细胞。到胚胎第17天时，卵巢网细胞逐渐穿透卵巢并将卵母细胞簇分隔开，此时卵巢网细胞可被识别为假定的颗粒细胞。在第13天时可识别出卵巢网细胞之间的缝隙连接接触，并且随着这些细胞在整个卵巢组织发生过程中被识别为假定的颗粒细胞，这些接触一直持续存在。对第15至19天连接接触的定量分析表明，缝隙连接的数量随着胎龄增加。此外，早在胚胎第17天时就在卵母细胞和假定的颗粒细胞之间检测到异细胞缝隙连接接触，这表明颗粒细胞和卵母细胞之间直接细胞间通讯的潜力从最早接触时就已确立。
