Click on the image or the + sign to view larger image		Ovarian follicle cells nurturing the growing egg The egg is a huge cell part of whose surface can be seen in yellow at the bottom of this colour-enhanced scanning electron micrograph. It needs to be fed as it develops in the ovary. The follicle cells that surround it (top) send out long projections that penetrate through the tough outer coating (the zona pellucida) into the egg cell itself giving it the nourishment it needs to develop to maturity. Even when the egg is released from the ovary at ovulation it remains surrounded by a cloud of follicle cells that only gradually fall away as the egg progresses along the Fallopian tube. Credit: Yorgos Nikas