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 ...

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...

Apolipoprotein E (apoE) is synthesized by the liver and many peripheral cells. Rat ovarian granulosa cells synthesize and secrete apoE, and this apoE production is increased by agents that increase cellular cAMP. In these studies of granulosa cell apoE synthesis we have examined the effect of agents that stimulate various cell kinases, including protein kinases A, G, and C. The cell content of ...

The objective of the present work was to study the effect of a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor (fadrozole) on proliferation, estradiol production, aromatase expression and telomerase activity (TA) in pig granulosa cells (GC) from small (1–2 mm) and large (5–7 mm) follicles. The cells were treated with fadrozole for 48 h and 72 h in basal and FSH-stimulated conditions. Fadrozole caused a decrea...

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...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to evaluate the functional characteristics of granulosa cell populations of individual follicles of women undergoing controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) for IVF/ICSI in whom gonadotrophin had been withheld ('coasted') for the prevention of OHSS. METHODS Follicular fluid and granulosa cells were isolated from 224 individual follicles in 41 women who had be...

After ovulation of an oocyte, granulosa cells of the ovarian follicle differentiate into luteal cells and become a major factor dedicated to the synthesis of the steroid hormone progesterone. We recently established granulosa cell lines by cotransfection of granulosa cells with SV-40 and Ha-ras oncogene. In these cells progesterone secretion can be induced by cAMP as in normal rat granulosa cel...

Mammalian oocytes grow within ovarian follicles in which the oocyte is coupled to surrounding granulosa cells by gap junctions. We report here that growing oocytes isolated from mouse preantral follicles are incapable of recovering from an experimentally induced acidosis, and that oocytes acquire the ability to manage acid loads by activating Na(+)/H(+) exchange during growth. By contrast, gran...

The Fas antigen (Fas) is a cell surface receptor that may be involved in the initiation and progression of follicle cell apoptosis during atresia. Fas initiates apoptosis in sensitive cells after binding Fas ligand (FasL). Other experiments have shown that expression of Fas mRNA and responsiveness to Fas-mediated apoptosis vary in bovine granulosa and theca cells during follicle development. In...