In females, androstenedione is released into the blood by theca cells.

Thus, theca cells and granulosa cells work together to form estrogen.

Likewise, theca cells lack the enzyme aromatase required to make estrogens themselves.

Hence, both granulosa and theca cells are essential for the production of estrogen in the ovaries.

Stroma-like theca cells are recruited by oocyte-secreted signals.

In days, the theca cells enveloped the granulosa and eggs, mimicking a real ovary.

It is speculated that insulin, at high enough concentration, stimulates the ovarian theca cells to produce androgens.

Granulosa and theca cells continue to undergo mitosis concomitant with an increase in antrum volume.

Theca cells express receptors for luteinizing hormone (LH).

Supporting and steroidogenic cells become theca cells and granulosa cells, respectively.

Together with human egg cells, donated granulosa cells were inserted into the honeycomb shape the theca cells formed.

It has a critical role in granulosa cell and theca cell growth, as well as in differentiation and maturation of the oocyte.

In females, LH supports theca cells in the ovaries that provide androgens and hormonal precursors for estradiol production.

Thecomas or theca cell tumors are benign ovarian neoplasms composed only of theca cells.

In human embryogenesis, the theca cells form a corpus luteum after a Graafian follicle has expelled its secondary oocyte arrested in second meiosis.

The allele appears to manifest itself at least partially via heightened androgen levels secreted by ovarian follicle theca cells from women with the allele.

In contrast, granulosa cells lack 17α-hydroxylase and 17,20-lyase, whereas theca cells express these enzymes and 17β-HSD but lack aromatase.

As the amplitude of LH pulses increases, the theca cells of the ovaries begin to produce testosterone and smaller amounts of progesterone.

When theca cells form in the tertiary follicle the amount of estrogen increases sharply (theca-derived androgen is aromatized into estrogen by the granulosa cells).

The main target cells of LH are the Leydig cells of testes and the theca cells of the ovaries.

LH kicks off the production of androgens by the theca cells, most notably androstenedione, which are aromatized by granulosa cells to produce estrogens, primarily estradiol.

Follicular atresia is the breakdown of the ovarian follicles, which consist of an oocyte surrounded by granulosa cells and internal and external theca cells.

LH stimulates the Leydig cells of the testes and the theca cells of the ovaries to produce testosterone (and indirectly estradiol).

In this work, Carson, et al. introduced theca cells donated by reproductive age patients into "3-D Petri dishes" designed to resemble the sponge-like cells of a human ovary.

Like the previous theca cells, the theca lutein cells lack the aromatase enzyme that is necessary to produce estrogen, so they can only perform steroidogenesis until formation of androgens.