Imperial College London
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Emeritus ProfessorStephenFranks

Faculty of Medicine, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction

Emeritus Professor of Reproductive Endocrinology
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 2109s.franks Website

 
 
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Assistant

 

Miss Kiran Dosanjh +44 (0)20 7594 4217

 
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Location

 

5009Institute of Reproductive and Developmental BiologyHammersmith Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@unpublished{Hopkins:2021:10.1101/2021.01.03.425098,
author = {Hopkins, T and Bemmer, V and Franks, S and Dunlop, C and Hardy, K and Dunlop, I},
doi = {10.1101/2021.01.03.425098},
publisher = {Bioarxiv},
title = {Mapping the mechanical microenvironment in the ovary},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.03.425098},
year = {2021}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - UNPB
AB  - Follicle development in the human ovary must be tightly regulated to ensure cyclical release of oocytes (ovulation), and disruption of this process is a common cause of infertility. Recent ex vivo studies suggest that follicle growth may be mechanically regulated, however the actual mechanical properties of the follicle microenvironment have remained unknown. Here we map and quantify the mechanical microenvironment in mouse ovaries using colloidal probe atomic force microscope (AFM) indentation, finding an overall mean Young's Modulus 3.3 ± 2.5 kPa. Spatially, stiffness is low at the ovarian edge and centre, which are dominated by extra-follicular ECM, and highest in an intermediate zone dominated by large follicles. This suggests that large follicles should be considered as mechanically dominant structures in the ovary, in contrast to previous expectations. Our results provide a new, physiologically accurate framework for investigating how mechanics impacts follicle development and will underpin future tissue engineering of the ovary.
AU  - Hopkins,T
AU  - Bemmer,V
AU  - Franks,S
AU  - Dunlop,C
AU  - Hardy,K
AU  - Dunlop,I
DO  - 10.1101/2021.01.03.425098
PB  - Bioarxiv
PY  - 2021///
TI  - Mapping the mechanical microenvironment in the ovary
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.03.425098
UR  - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.03.425098v1
ER  -
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