Involvement of the SLIT/ROBO pathway in follicle development in the fetal ovary.

In humans and domestic mammals, pivotal processes in ovary development, including primordial follicle assembly, occur prenatally. These events are essential for determining fertility in adult life; however, they remain poorly understood at the mechanistic level. In mammals, the SLITs (SLIT1, SLIT2 and SLIT3) and their ROBO (ROBO1, ROBO2, ROBO3/RIG-1 and ROBO4/MAGIC ROBO) receptors regulate neural, leukocyte, vascular smooth muscle cell and endothelial cell migration.