Chicken ovarian follicles morphology and growth differentiation factor 9 gene expression in chicken ovarian follicles: review

Abstract

Ovary follicular development is a progressive system from the beginning of small cortical follicles to the ovulation of hierarchical follicles. The review was conducted to provide information on the indigenous chickens commonly used for egg production, chicken ovarian follicles morphology and expression of growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9) gene in ovarian follicles and its relationship with egg production. The research databases used in the study include google scholar, Science Direct, PubMed, JSTOR and Cambridge Core. Google, Yahoo and Baidu search engines were used to search the information. In this study, the papers selected for use were original research articles and reviews to ensure that the information used was from research results. Besides, only recent English papers, 2010-2021, were used. The keywords used to search for articles were chicken ovarian follicles, ovarian morphology and GDF9 gene expression. The documents showed that pre-hierarchical follicles include many small and large white follicles, which are about 2-5mm in diameter and 5 to 6 small yellow follicles (SYF) that are about 5-10mm in diameter. Preovulatory follicles are about five to six in number and above 10mm in diameter, with the sizes from F6 to F1, with F1 as the largest follicle. Further, the studies revealed that GDF9 gene mRNA is expressed in the highest concentration in small yellow follicles and other studies reported that the expression of GDF9 gene has been found in follicles of the primary to preovulatory stages in chickens. This review concludes that the GDF9 gene expression is mainly throughout follicular growth and it stimulates the proliferation of pre-hierarchical granulosa cells. The increased egg production in chickens depends on progressive developmental stages and the growth of ovarian follicles.

Keywords: Chickens; GDF9 gene; Morphology; Pre-hierarchical follicles; Preovulatory follicles.

Figure 1

Potchefstroom Koekoek breed.

Figure 2

Venda chicken breed.

Figure 3

Boschveld chicken breed.

Figure 4

Ovambo chicken breed.

Figure 5

Chicken ovarian follicles (Apperson et al., 2017). Five preovulatory follicles are present (F1–F5). Small yellow follicles (SYF) and a degenerating post-ovulatory follicle (RF) are visible. The black arrow symbols nerves and blood vessels. The oviduct and shell gland are labelled.