Bioscientifica Proceedings

Although the major source of relaxin in pigs is the corpus luteum of pregnancy, there is now evidence for relaxin gene expression and translation into protein in the theca intema cells of the preovulatory follicle, the corpus luteum of the cycle and the uterus. The theca interna cells retain their ability to express the relaxin gene and protein following ovulation. During the early stages of development of the corpus luteum, the theca-derived small lutein cells are the so...

Summary. Our understanding of the synthesis and production of follicular steroids and prostaglandins (PG) in the pig is based largely on in-vitro studies with granulosa and theca interna tissues obtained from Graafian follicles at various stages of maturation. As the follicle enlarges before the LH surge, granulosa cells exhibit a decrease in FSH receptors and are less responsive to FSH in terms of cAMP production. Concurrently, there is an increase in gr...