The two classes of primordial follicles in the mouse ovary: their development, physiological functions and implications for future research

Ovarian follicles are the basic functional units in the mammalian ovary. This review summarizes early pioneering studies and focuses on recent progress that has shown that there are two distinct classes of primordial follicles in the ovary: the first wave of primordial follicles that are activated immediately after they are formed and the adult primordial follicles that are activated gradually in later life. These two separate classes have been proposed for two decades, but sufficient experimental evidence to support this hypothesis has only been obtained recently using newly developed follicular tracing techniques in genetically modified mouse models. These two follicle populations differ from each other primarily in terms of their developmental dynamics and their contributions to ovarian physiology. It is apparent now that these two follicle populations should be treated separately, and such knowledge will hopefully lead to a more in-depth understanding of how distinct types of primordial follicles contribute to physiologic and pathologic alterations of the mammalian ovary.