T. A. Fitz is the first author of a 1982 study distinguishing two steroid-producing cell populations in the sheep corpus luteum. The researchers separated small and large luteal cells before measuring progesterone secretion and responses to stimulating substances. Comparing separated populations allowed a tissue-level output to be related to its cellular components.[ref]
Characterization of Two Steroidogenic Cell Types in the Ovine Corpus Luteum by T. A. Fitz and others. Abstract: separation of dispersed ovine luteal cells and secretion/binding assays; Biology of Reproduction 27, 703–711, 1982
Without stimulation, equal numbers of large luteal cells released about 20 times as much progesterone as the small-cell population. The equal-count comparison is essential: a higher total secretion could otherwise arise merely because one preparation contained more cells. It also explains why a change in the mixture of cell types can alter total tissue secretion even when each population's individual behavior stays unchanged.[ref]
Characterization of Two Steroidogenic Cell Types in the Ovine Corpus Luteum by T. A. Fitz and others. Abstract: basal secretion normalized to equal cell numbers
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