The aims of the present study were to investigate the effects of the interaction between follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) on survival, follicular growth initiation and further growth of caprine preantral follicles. Pieces of caprine ovarian cortex were cultured for 1 or 7 days in minimum essential medium (MEM) supplemented with FSH, FGF-2 or FSH + FGF-2. Small fragments from non-cultured ovarian tissue and from those cultured for 1 or 7 days were processed for classical histology and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to verify follicular morphology and growth. The results showed that, after 7 days culture, the highest percentages of normal follicles were observed in medium supplemented with FSH. After 7 days culture, the interaction between FSH and FGF-2 was most effective to promote the initiation of primordial follicles growth and oocyte growth. TEM showed ultrastructural integrity of follicles after 1 day of culture in MEM and after 7 days in all treatments, except in those follicles cultured for 7 days in MEM. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that the interaction between FSH and FGF-2 stimulates the initiation of primordial follicles growth and the subsequent growth of developing follicles. Furthermore, these data showed that FSH is important to maintain follicular integrity after 7 days culture.