Bioscientifica Proceedings

Although the major source of relaxin in pigs is the corpus luteum of pregnancy, there is now evidence for relaxin gene expression and translation into protein in the theca intema cells of the preovulatory follicle, the corpus luteum of the cycle and the uterus. The theca interna cells retain their ability to express the relaxin gene and protein following ovulation. During the early stages of development of the corpus luteum, the theca-derived small lutein cells are the so...