Locally produced androgens act via granulosa cell androgen receptors to modulate follicular responsiveness to gonadotrophins and thereby contribute to the paracrine regulation of ovarian function. We used quantitative androgen receptor immunocytochemistry to assess androgen receptor distribution in relation to pre-ovulatory follicular development in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), a New World primate that ovulates two to four follicles in each approximately 28 day ovarian cycle. Ovaries from four adult females in the late follicular phase and from four in the luteal phase were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde and subjected to an immunocytochemical analysis using a polyclonal androgen receptor antibody with detection by a standard avidin-biotin-peroxidase technique for alkaline phosphatase. Specific androgen receptor immunostaining occurred mainly in granulosa cell nuclei, with little or no specific staining in theca, stroma or oocytes. Granulosa cell androgen receptor immunostaining was most abundant in healthy preantral/early antral follicles, being low or absent from pre-ovulatory follicles and corpora lutea. Differences in granulosa cell androgen receptor immunostaining between immature (0.1-1.0 mm diameter) and pre-ovulatory (> or = 2.0 mm diameter) follicles were quantified using a videodensitometric analysis of grey-scale values. Readings were taken from the granulosa cell layers of 53 immature follicles and 10 pre-ovulatory follicles in late follicular phase ovaries. The average androgen receptor level in granulosa cells of immature follicles proved to be 4.2-fold higher (P < 0.01) than that in granulosa cells of pre-ovulatory follicles. Because other evidence suggests that paracrine androgen action in granulosa cells converts from stimulation to inhibition as follicles mature, we speculate that a development-related reduction in androgen receptor numbers serves to "protect' granulosa cells against the inhibitory action of androgen, thereby promoting pre-ovulatory follicular dominance in primate ovarian cycles.