An oogonium (pl.: oogonia) is a small diploid cell which, upon maturation, forms a primordial follicle in a female fetus or the female (haploid or diploid) gametangium of certain thallophytes.
In the mammalian fetus
Oogonia are formed in large numbers by mitosis early in fetal development from primordial germ cells. In humans they start to develop between weeks 4 and 8 and are present in the fetus between weeks 5 and 30.
Structure
Normal oogonia in human ovaries are spherical or ovoid in shape and are found amongst neighboring somatic cells and oocytes at different phases of development. Oogonia can be distinguished from neighboring somatic cells, under an electron microscope, by observing their nuclei. Oogonial nuclei contain randomly dispersed fibrillar and granular material whereas the somatic cells have a more condensed nucleus that creates a darker outline under the microscope. Oogonial nuclei also contain dense prominent nucleoli. The chromosomal material in the nucleus of mitotically dividing oogonia shows as a dense mass surrounded by vesicles or double membranes. The cytoplasm of oogonia appears similar to that of the surrounding somatic cells and similarly contains large round mitochondria with lateral cristae. The endoplasmic reticulum (E.R.) of oogonia, however, is very underdeveloped and is made up of several small vesicles. Some of these small vesicles contain cisternae with ribosomes and are found located near the golgi apparatus. Oogonia that are undergoing degeneration appear slightly different under the electron microscope. In these oogonia, the chromosomes clump together into an indistinguishable mass within the nucleus and the mitochondria and E.R. appear to be swollen and disrupted. Degenerating oogonia are usually found partially or wholly engulfed in neighboring somatic cells, identifying phagocytosis as the mode of elimination.
Development and differentiation In the blastocyst of the mammalian embryo, primordial germ cells arise from proximal epiblasts under the influence of extra-embryonic signals. These germ cells then travel, via amoeboid movement, to the genital ridge and eventually into the undifferentiated gonads of the fetus. During the 4th or 5th week of development, the gonads begin to differentiate. In the absence of the Y chromosome, the gonads will differentiate into ovaries. As the ovaries differentiate, ingrowths called cortical cords develop. This is where the primordial germ cells collect. During the 6th to 8th week of female (XX) embryonic development, the primordial germ cells grow and begin to differentiate into oogonia. Oogonia proliferate via mitosis during the 9th to 22nd week of embryonic development. There can be up to 600,000 oogonia by the 8th week of development and up to 7,000,000 by the 5th month. Eventually, the oogonia will either degenerate or further differentiate into primary oocytes through asymmetric division. Asymmetric division is a process of mitosis in which one oogonium divides unequally to produce one daughter cell that will eventually become an oocyte through the process of oogenesis, and one daughter cell that is an identical oogonium to the parent cell. This occurs during the 15th week to the 7th month of embryonic development. Most oogonia have either degenerated or differentiated into primary oocytes by birth. Primary oocytes will undergo oogenesis in which they enter meiosis. However, primary oocytes are arrested in prophase 1 of the first meiosis and remain in that arrested stage until puberty begins in the female adult. This is in contrast to male primordial germ cells which are arrested in the spermatogonial stage at birth and do not enter into spermatogenesis and meiosis to produce primary spermatocytes until puberty in the adult male.
Regulation of oogonia differentiation and entry into oogenesis The regulation and differentiation of germ cells into primary gametocytes ultimately depends on the sex of the embryo and the differentiation of the gonads. In female mice, the protein RSPO1 is responsible for the differentiation of female (XX) gonads into ovaries. RSPO1 activates the β-catenin signaling pathway by up-regulating Wnt4 which is an essential step in ovary differentiation. Research has shown that ovaries lacking Rspo1 or Wnt4 will exhibit sex reversal of the gonads, the formation of ovotestes and the differentiation of somatic sertoli cells, which aid in the development of sperm. After female (XX) germ cells collect in the undifferentiated gonads, the up-regulation of Stra8 is required for germ cell differentiation into an oogonium and eventually enter meiosis. One major factor that contributes to the up-regulation of Stra8, is the initiation of the β-Catenin signaling pathway via RSPO1, which is also responsible for ovary differentiation. Since RSPO1 is produced in somatic cells, this protein acts on germ cells in a paracrine mode. Rspo1, however, is not the only factor in Stra8 regulation. Many other factors are under scrutiny and this process is still being evaluated.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
