Predictive Value of Antral Follicle Count and Anti-Müllerian Hormone for Follicle and Oocyte Developmental Competence During the Early Prepubertal Period in a Sheep Model

Circulating anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) and antral follicle count (AFC) are addressed as suitable markers of oocyte quantity and quality during adulthood. To investigate whether AFC and circulating AMH could predict follicle development and oocyte quality during the prepubertal period we used 40-day-old ewe lambs with high, intermediate and low AFC (≥30, 16-29 and≤15 follicles respectively). The analysis of the response to the exogenous FSH ovarian reserve test showed a positive correlation between AFC, AMH plasma levels, total follicle number and the number of large follicles (≥3mm) grown after exogenous FSH administration. The incorporation of abattoir-derived oocytes collected from ovaries with different AFC in an in vitro embryo production system showed that a high AFC can predict oocyte quality in prepubertal ovaries, reflecting an ovarian status suitable for follicular development. The histological quantification of the ovarian reserve evidenced that AFC was not predictive of differences in either the number of healthy follicles or the size of the primordial follicle pool in prepubertal ovaries. Further studies are needed to investigate the implication on the reproductive performance of the significant inter-individual differences found in the present study in AFC and circulating AMH in the early prepubertal period.