Previously, it has been shown that integrin alpha6beta1 expressed on human granulosa cells regulates luteinization in co-operation with its ligand, laminin. In this study, integrin alpha2 was immunohistochemically demonstrated to be expressed on granulosa and large luteal cells. It was also detected on luteinizing theca interna cells after ovulation. Immunoreactive collagen type IV, which is on...

A spontaneously immortalized clonal granulosa cell line (SIGC) derived from primary rat ovarian granulosa cell cultures was developed as a model system to explore the process of transformation using an epithelial cell type. SIGC has an epithelial morphology and grows in culture without undergoing luteinization. The cell line is thought to represent an intermediate step in carcinogenesis because...

We have observed that levels of the antioxidant glutathione (GSH) and protein levels of the catalytic and modifier subunits of the rate-limiting enzyme in GSH synthesis, GCLc and GCLm, increase in immature rat ovaries after treatment with gonadotropin. The goals of the present studies were to delineate the time course and intraovarian localization of changes in GSH and GCL after PMSG and after ...

The gap junction proteins connexin37 and connexin43 are required for ovarian folliculogenesis in the mouse. To define their respective roles in oogenesis, chimeric ovaries containing either null mutant oocytes and wild-type granulosa cells or the reverse combination were grafted to the renal capsules of immunodeficient female mice. After three weeks, the oocytes were tested for meiotic competen...

The discovery of displaced granulosa cells in the fallopian tube is concerning for a granulosa cell neoplasm and can lead to further surgical intervention. Discerning the risk of neoplasm can be challenging, even with immunohistochemical staining of CD56, a highly sensitive marker of granulosa cell neoplasm. A 48-year-old underwent an uncomplicated hysterectomy and bilateral salpingectomy for s...

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...

Beta-catenin (CTNNB1), a key component of wingless-type mouse mammary tumor virus integration site family (WNT) signaling, participates in follicle stimulated hormone-mediated regulation of estrogen (E2) production. The purpose of these studies was to determine if CTNNB1's contribution to FSH-mediated steroidogenesis in primary rat granulosa cells was due in part to extracellular stimulation of...

FSH and IGF-I are both important determinants of follicle development and the process of cumulus cell-oocyte complex expansion. FSH stimulates the phosphorylation of Akt by mechanisms involving phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K), a pattern of response mimicking that of IGF-I. Cartilage link protein (Crtl1) is confined to the cartilaginous lineage and is assembled into a macroaggregate comple...