Follicles
Follicles were dissected from the ovaries and grouped on the basis of their diameter in small (5 mm) . Each follicle was cut open, oocytes were recovered and the remaining cumulus cells were removed by repeated pipetting with fine bore glass Pasteur pipettes with different diameters following the method described Granulosa cells were separated from the follicles using a siliconized Pasteur pipette centrifuged at 300g for 10 min and at the end total RNA was extracted. Theca tissue was
peeled from each follicle using fine forceps, frozen in liquid nitrogen and powdered in a mortar.