In the present study we have examined the presence of Fas, Fas ligand (FasL), and p53 in rat granulosa cells during follicular development and atresia, especially in relation to the granulosa cell cycle progression and the onset of granulosa cell apoptosis. Fas, FasL, and p53 proteins were immunolocalized, and their contents were determined by Western blotting. Granulosa cell apoptosis was asse...

Only a minute fraction of ovarian follicles present in a foetal ovary will complete the path to ovulation. The majority of the follicles will instead undergo atresia, a hormonally controlled apoptotic process. Apoptosis occurs throughout follicle development, with an extensive reduction in the number of follicles present at birth. Interestingly, this drastic reduction is not present among preov...

objective: the purpose of the present study was to verify the ultrastructural characteristics of cultured mouse preantral follicles from fresh and vitrified –warmed ovarian tissues. materials and methods: the ovaries of 14-day-old mice (n = 5) were vitrified using a mixture of ethylene glycol, ficoll 70 and sucrose. the preantral follicles were isolated and cultured in α-minimum essential mediu...

BACKGROUND Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and its receptors have been identified in female reproductive tissues. CRH regulates follicular maturation, ovulation, luteolysis and steroidgenesis. A CRH-related peptide stresscopin (SCP), or urocortin III (Ucn3), has recently been identified, but its functions in the ovary remain to be elucidated. In the present study, we investigated the effe...

Luteinization stimulator (LS), an intrafollicular compound of preovulatory (5-8 mm) follicles, increased both the basal and gonadotropins-stimulated production of progesterone by immature (1-3 mm) granulosa cells. The mechanism by which LS enhance steroidogenesis was investigated by studying the modulation of progesterone biosynthesis from exogenous cholesterol and pregnenolone in cultured porc...

BMPs expressed in the ovary differentially regulate steroidogenesis by granulosa cells. BMP-9, a circulating BMP, is associated with cell proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation in various tissues. However, the effects of BMP-9 on ovarian function have yet to be elucidated. Here we investigated BMP-9 actions on steroidogenesis using rat primary granulosa cells. BMP-9 potently suppressed FS...

Mitochondrial numbers increase during oocyte growth. In this study, we collected oocytes and granulosa cell complexes (OGCs) from early antral follicles (EAFs) of aged cows (> 120 months of age) and examined the effects of resveratrol on mitochondrial generation, degradation, and quality in oocytes grown in vitro. We also examined the effects of resveratrol on gene expression of the granulosa c...

The spontaneous development of juvenile-onset ovarian granulosa cell tumors in mice of the SWXJ-9 recombinant inbred strain is a model for juvenile-type granulosa cell tumors that appear in very young girls. To expedite gene discovery in this mouse model of childhood cancer, we did a gene mapping study with the SWXJ-9 recombinant inbred strain and the evolutionarily divergent Mus musculus casta...

Ski protein is implicated in proliferation/differentiation in a variety of cells. We had previously reported that Ski protein is present in granulosa cells of atretic follicles, but not in preovulatory follicles, suggesting that Ski has a role in apoptosis of granulosa cells. The alternative fate of granulosa cells other than apoptosis is to differentiate to luteal cells; however, it is unknown...

Freshly aspirated human granulosa cells from pre-ovulatory follicles and granulosa cells luteinized in culture possess the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) of approximate molecular mass of 140,000 and NCAM mRNA as confirmed by S1-nuclease protection assays and RT-PCR. Moreover, in the process of luteinization the NCAM isoform pattern is modified. Isoforms containing an insert of 10 amino ac...