The use of ovarian tissue in vitro for experiments
that cannot be accomplished easily or definitively in vivo
can help identify extra-ovarian factors that affect regulation
of ovarian function. Such studies might utilize expensive
or toxic chemicals, metabolic substrates, nutrients,
hormones, or specific agonists or antagonists of
physiologically relevant signaling pathways. Further, with
the advent of transgenic technologies, the role of individual
gene products in ovarian development and function can be
examined in tissue from genetically altered mice.