background: ovarian tissue cryopreservation is an alternative strategy to preserve the fertility of women predicted to undergo premature ovarian failure. this study was designed to evaluate the expression of folliculogenesis-related genes, including factor in the germline alpha (figla), growth differentiation factor-9 (gdf-9), follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (fshr), and kit ligand after v...

Rationale: Postmenopausal atherosclerosis (AS) has for decades been attributed to estrogen deficiency. Although the follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) levels rise sharply in parallel, the direct effect of FSH on AS has never been investigated. In this study, we explored the possible role of FSH in the development of AS. Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of 48 healthy premenopausal ...

Premature ovarian failure (POF) is an ovarian defect characterized by the premature depletion of ovarian follicles before 40 years of age, representing one major cause of female infertility. Stem cells provide the possibility of a potential treatment for POF. In this study, rat embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were co-cultured with granulosa cells (GCs) to ...

The key mechanisms responsible for achievement of full reproductive and developmental capability in mammals are the differentiation and transformation of granulosa cells (GCs) during folliculogenesis, oogenesis, and oocyte maturation. Although the role of 17 beta-estradiol (E2) in ovarian activity is widely known, its effect on proliferative capacity, gap junction connection (GJC) formation, an...

Strong gain-of-function mutations have not been identified in humans in the FSH receptor (FSHR), whereas such mutations are common among many other G protein-coupled receptors. In order to predict consequences of such mutations on humans, we first identified constitutively activated mutants of the mouse (m) Fshr and then expressed them under the human anti-Müllerian hormone promoter in transgen...

Cumulus cells (CCs) maintain strict functional relationships with the enclosed antral oocyte and are thought to reflect its developmental competence. Several studies have described a correlation between CC gene expression and oocyte quality. Herein, we tested whether CC-specific FSH and LH receptors (FSHR and LHR, respectively) are differentially expressed in CCs enclosing developmentally compe...

Epidemiological studies suggested that ovulation was associated with ovarian carcinogenesis. Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) played an important role in follicular development and was recently found to affect growth of ovarian epithelial cells. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) Thr307Ala and Asn680Ser were two non-synonymous variations in the coding region of the FSH receptor (FSHR) gen...

Premature ovarian failure (POF) is a heterogeneous disease. Though dozens of candidate genes have been identified for the genetic etiology of POF, it is largely unexplained in majority of patients. Recently, Wt1(+/R394W) mice was found to present POF-like phenotype, which indicates that WT1 might be a plausible candidate gene for non-syndromic POF. The coding region of WT1 gene was screened in ...

Age at pubertal onset varies substantially in healthy girls. Although genetic factors are responsible for more than half of the phenotypic variation, only a small part has been attributed to specific genetic polymorphisms identified so far. Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) stimulates ovarian follicle maturation and estradiol synthesis which is responsible for breast development. We assessed t...

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common complex genetic endocrinopathy, affecting 5 - 10% of women at reproductive age. PCO granulosa cells seem to have abnormal responses to follicle- stimulating hormone (FSH). FSH is considered to be a pituitary glycoprotein that plays an important role during folliculogenesis as it promotes the proliferation and differentiation of granulosa ...