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Germ cell kinetics during early ovarian differentiation: An analysis of the oogonial cell cycle and the subsequent changes in oocyte development during the onset of meiosis in the rat

The aim of this study was the comparison between the mitoses of oogonia and the initial stages of oocyte meiosis. The structural alterations that the germ cell chromatin undergoes during the oogonial mitosis have been compared with those occurring during the G1‐ and S‐phase just before meiosis. Using plastic embedded 1‐μm sections of fetal rat ovaries (embryonic days = ED 14–20) labeled with 3H‐thymidine and re‐embedded for electron microscopy, a study of the structural conditions of the nuclear chromatin has been combined with a kinetic analysis of the oogonial cell cycle and the transitional period into the meiotic prophase. After ovarian differentiation (ED 14) the oogonia show a non‐clonal, but strong proliferation. On ED 16, proliferation changes to a clonal pattern and decreases during ED 17. A final increase in 3H‐thymidine incorporation on ED 18 characterizes the meiotic S‐phase. On ED 19 the nuclear labeling drops to zero. The mitotic cycle of the oogonia lasts 16.5 hr and can be divided into 11 stages according to the concept of El‐Alfy and Leblond [(1988) Am. J. Anat., 183:45–56] on the basis of the chromatin pattern. The S‐phase (10.0 hours) extends from the telophase‐interphase transition through the interphase to early prophase. The postmitotic G1‐ and S‐phases show a more extensive duration, respectively 10 and 11.5 hours, and differ from their oogonial counterparts by the spherical shape of the nuclei from the very beginning. The chromatin pattern is similar until the end of the S‐phase and lacks any prophase‐like, preleptotenal chromatin condensation before the oocytes exhibit (pre‐) leptotenal structures. Once the germ cell has completed a sequence of clonal mitotic divisions, it irrevocably progresses into meiosis. During an extended postmitotic period, the structural characteristics of meiosis emerge stepwise. Microsc. Res. Tech. 40:377–397, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.