= T. A. Fitz
{c}
<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.<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]{ref}
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.<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]{ref}
Back to article page
