Representative illustration of the primordial follicular quantification.

<p>Mean primordial follicle densities (number/mm²) of 40 sections per fragment for 20 fragments from the same ovary (A) are shown. An example of the primordial follicle density within serial sections (at a 30-µm distance) of three fragments from the same ovary is also illustrated (a, b and c) (B).</p

Flow chart of the experimental design (A) and representative histology of a sheep cortex section (B).

<p>Ovaries were harvested from two ewes and fully cut into cortical fragments. Subsequently, each fragment was serially and completely sectioned, and approximately 40 H&E sections, each 30 µm apart from one another, were further used for the follicular quantification (A). The uneven repartition of follicles within the sheep ovarian cortex is obvious (B). The left part of the H&E section is completely devoid of primordial follicles, whereas the right part contains mostly primordial follicles. Primordial follicles (plain arrows) and secondary follicles (arrowhead).</p

Follicle quantification in the whole ovaries.

<p>Follicle quantification in the whole ovaries.</p

Results of the Monte-Carlo simulations.

<p>The probability of detecting an effect on the primordial follicular density (i.e., power) was calculated with the fixed effects arbitrarily set at 50, 25 and 10% and a confidence level of alpha  = 0.05 for various combinations of the numbers of ovary fragments and sections per fragment.</p

Variance components of the random-effects fragments and sections and their respective standard errors.

<p>Variance components of the random-effects fragments and sections and their respective standard errors.</p