Ovarian stage dependent expression of genes involved in reproduction.

Genes are (A) mPR-alpha (B) ghr1 (C) lhr and (D) fshr. Expression is reported as mean absolute copy number of the transcript ± SEM. Abbreviations for female phases are as follows; Primary growth perinuclear (PG pn); Primary growth cortical alveoli (PG ca); Secondary growth early vitellogenesis (eVtg); Secondary growth late vitellogenesis (lVtg); Oocyte maturation (OM); and Atresia (AT). Sample sizes/month is n = 4 except for the month of June (n = 3). PG pn (n = 9), PG ca (n = 8), eVtg (n = 8), lVtg (n = 3), OM (n = 12), and AT (n = 2). Total number of animals used in the stage specific analysis was n = 42. Different letters indicate statistical differences among groups (p<0.05).