Cytochemical study of the ovary cells in the chick embryo.

In the present work, cytochemical studies of mucosubstances, 3-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and lipids in the different cellular types of chick embryo female gonads were performed, at 7, 11, 15, and 19 days of embryonal development. Oocytes from the cortical zone of the left ovary were characterized by the presence of a juxtanuclear cytoplasmic cap, which was basophilic, PAS positive, alcianophilic and acidophilic and was related to Balbiani's vitelline body. These staining characteristics either decreased or disappeared from 15 days in oocytes of the normal left ovary medulla as well as in oocytes of the atrophic right ovary.