Granulosa cells from ovarian follicles were shown to express and secrete fibrinogen under the control of FSH. Conditioned medium was collected from granulosa cell cultures and found to contain FSH-dependent 50-kilodalton (kDa) and 93- to 95-kDa proteins. N-Terminal microsequence analysis identified these proteins as fibrinogen beta- and gamma-chains, respectively. Proteins migrating at 93 and 9...

Folliculogenesis is tightly controlled by a series of hormones, growth factors and cytokines, many of which are secreted as proproteins and require processing by proteases before becoming functional. Furin is a member of the subtilisin-like proteases that activate large numbers of proprotein substrates and is ubiquitously expressed and implicated in many physiological and pathological processes...

Human ovarian granulosa cells were cultured on a basement membrane preparation (Matrigel) to investigate the role of extracellular matrix components in granulosa cell cluster formation. Time-lapse videomicroscopy of these cultures revealed a rapid aggregation of cells which was initiated during the first 2-4 h of culture so that by 8 h most of the granulosa cells were incorporated into clusters...

STUDY QUESTION Do different chemotherapy drugs exert the same magnitude of cytotoxicity on dormant primordial follicles and the growing follicle fraction in the ovary in vivo and on mitotic non-luteinized and non-mitotic luteinized granulosa cells in vitro? SUMMARY ANSWER Cyclophosphamide (alkylating agent) and cisplatin (alkylating like) impacted both primordial and pre-antral/antral follicl...

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), which is also called CCN2, is a secreted matricellular protein. CTGF regulates various important cellular functions by interacting with multiple molecules in the microenvironment. In the ovary, CTGF is mainly expressed in granulosa cells and involved in the regulation of follicular development, ovulation and luteinization. TGF-β1 has been shown to up-regu...

Inactivation of the cyclic nucleotide signal in granulosa cells depends on a complex array of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDE). In order to examine the role of PDE in cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling in granulosa cells, the present study examined the expression of PDE4D proteins and regulation of cAMP-PDE activities in cultured rat granulosa cells. The results of immunoblot analyses showed...

The physiological regulation of follicular atresia was investigated during the early luteal phase after ovulation and during altrenogest-synchronized preovulatory maturation in pigs (gilts). Apoptosis in dispersed granulosa cells was determined by flow cytometry. Apoptotic (A0) cells contain low, subdiploid amounts of DNA fluorescence. Follicles were classified biochemically as atretic or nonat...

We examined numerous ovarian follicles from 32-35 d virgin mice by transmission electron microscopy and light microscopic immunohistochemistry. No macrophages were seen, but various stages of apoptotic granulosa cells were encountered. Presumably a granulosa cell or its debris in an advanced stage of apoptosis was destined to be phagocytosed by adjacent normal-looking granulosa cells. Other gra...

Fibroblast growth factor 17 (FGF17) is a member of the FGF8 subfamily that appears to be relevant to folliculogenesis and oogenesis, as the prototype member FGF8 is an oocyte-derived protein that signals to cumulus cells. FGF8 has structural and receptor-binding similarities to FGF17, whose expression in the ovary has not been reported. In this study, we demonstrate localization of FGF17 protei...

Human small antral follicles (diameter 3-9 mm) were obtained from ovaries surgically removed for fertility preservation. From the individual aspirated follicles, granulosa cells and the corresponding follicular fluid were isolated in 64 follicles, of which 55 were available for mRNA analysis (24 women). Expressions of androgen receptor (AR) mRNA levels in granulosa cells, and of androstenedione...