Table 1.
Summary of treatment and investigation including contrast enhances ultrasound (CEUS) and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
Table 2.
List of the primer pairs used in SYBR Green quantitative real-time PCR.
Figure 1.
The effect of ovarian diathermy on antral follicles.
Immunohistochemistry for activated caspase 3 (brown) in antral follicle showing positive staining (a) and negative staining for atresia (b). (c) Immunohistochemistry for Ki67 showing positive staining for proliferation (brown) in an antral follicle. d) H&E stained mid ovarian section showing antral follicles. The proportion atretic follicles (black) and healthy follicles (white) in control and diathermy ovaries after 24 hours (e) and 5 weeks (f). (g) The proportion of follicles positive (black) and negative (white) for Ki67 (black) proliferation marker (g) and the number of antral follicles (h) in control and diathermy ovaries after 5 weeks. *P<0.05. Scale bar = 100 µm (a–c), 1 mm (d).
Figure 2.
The effect of diathermy on the expression of candidate genes in the ovarian stroma.
Twenty four hours after diathermy (n = 4) there was no change in a) IL1, b) IL6, c) IL8, d) IL10, g) SOCS3, h) VEGF when compared to paired control ovaries (n = 4). There was decrease in e) TNF and an increase in f) CCL2 expression. Five weeks after diathermy (n = 4 paired ovaries) there was no difference in the expression of i) IL1, j) IL6, k) IL8, l) IL10, m) TNF, n) CCL2, o) SOCS3 and p) VEGF when compared to control (n = 4 paired ovaries. *P<0.05; **P<0.01.
Figure 3.
The effect of Diathermy on ovarian stromal microbubble transit time.
A) Representative microbubble and greyscale scan with area of interest in the stroma highlighted (arrow) and the transit time graphically illustrated. The wash in time before and immediately after (b) diathermy (n = 4) and 24 hours after (c) diathermy.
Figure 4.
The effect of diathermy on Colour Doppler signal in the ovarian stroma.
Representative ovarian scans with fixed threshold Colour Doppler signals visible before (a) and 24 hours after ovarian diathermy (b). Area of fixed threshold Colour Doppler signal in the ovary before and 24 hours (c) and 5 weeks (d) after diathermy. *P<0.05; **P<0.01.
Figure 5.
The effect of diathermy on the ovarian artery resistance index (RI).
Representative RI scans with Colour Doppler signal wave quantification before (a) and 24 hours after ovarian diathermy (b). Quantified RI of the ovarian artery before and 24 hours (c) and 5 weeks (d) after diathermy. *P<0.05.
Figure 6.
Representative serial plasma progesterone assessment in the sheep with oligoovulation (a) and a representative sheep with anovulation (b).
The timing of diathermy is indicated by the arrow.