BACKGROUND In mammalian ovaries, diverse paracrine factors have been identified to mediate or modulate LH-induced changes during ovulation. Due to the difficulty in obtaining non-stimulated granulosa cells during IVF, little is known about the LH-induced paracrine factors in the human ovary. Based on earlier studies using murine ovarian cells showing the paracrine roles of brain-derived neurotr...

Little is known about the pathogenesis of ovarian granulosa cell tumors. Recently, we reported the identification of a somatic FOXL2 402C-->G mutation that is present in virtually all adult-type granulosa cell tumors, but not in a wide range of other tumor types. This finding has important implications for the diagnosis and classification of ovarian sex cord-stromal tumors, provides insight int...

Age-associated decline in oocyte quality is common in mammals. Oocytes take a long time to reach their full-grown size in large animals, and maternal physical conditions profoundly affect follicle development. Aging affects the oocyte itself as well as the surrounding environment, such as granulosa cells and follicular fluid. This review discusses age-associated changes that occur in granulosa ...

The effects of PMSG on the mitotic activity of granulosa cells and atresia of large folicles in 24-day-old rats were examined. The results showed that the labelling index (1) decreased in atretic follicles parallel with a loss of FSH binding, and (2) increased in hypophysectomized rats treated with FSH. It is concluded that FSH stimulates granulosa cell divisions and that atresia may be caused ...

Sex-cord stromal tumours account for only about 6% of testicular neoplasms.' Leydig cell tumour is the commonest sub-type but other tissues that can be represented in varying amounts and degrees of differentiation include Sertoli, granulosa and theca-lutein elements. Testicular granulosa-cell tumour ofthe adult type is particularly uncommon. This report details a mixed sex-cord stromal tumour o...

The adult human ovary is composed of various cell types. Preovulatory follicles contain two distinct types of granulosa cells that arise during folliculogenesis as the cell populations segregate upon formation of the fluid-filled follicular antrum. The granulosa cells line in the follicle wall, reside very close to the basement membrane and are essential for estrogen production and follicular r...

BACKGROUND HOX cofactors enhance HOX binding affinities and specificities and increase HOX's unique functional activities. The expression and the regulation of HOX cofactors in human ovaries are unknown. METHODS In this study, the expression of HOX cofactors, PBX1, PBX2, and MEIS1/2, were examined by using RT-PCR, immunofluorescence in cultured immortalized human granulosa (SVOG) cells. The d...

The cytodifferentiation and subcellular steroidogenic sites in the granulosa cell of the developing follicle and in vitro effect of estradiol-17 ~ (E2) on the granulosa cell of the preovulatory follicle in the human ovary were investigated using the electron microscopic cytochemistry. The follicular cell in the primordial follicle showed an elongated nucleus, rough endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi ...