Leptin, a recently-discovered hormonal product of the obese gene, circulates in the blood at levels paralleling those of fat reserves and regulates satiety and improves reproductive performance if injected into mice lacking circulating leptin. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that leptin signals metabolic information to the reproductive system by directly affecting granulosa cell function. D...

Objective. The high temperature requirement factor A3 (HtrA3) is a serine protease homologous to bacterial HtrA. Four human HtrAs have been identified. HtrA1 and HtrA3 share a high degree of domain organization and are downregulated in a number of cancers, suggesting a widespread loss of these proteases in cancer. This study examined how extensively the HtrA (HtrA1-3) proteins are downregulated...

The main role of the ovarian granulosa cells is to nurse the oocyte and to produce estradiol and progesterone upon stimulation by gonadotropins. In fact, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone control the expression of several genes during granulosa cell differentiation via cyclic AMP-dependent phosphorylations. Cyclic AMP stimulates transcription of genes that carry the cAM...

Although mothers against dpp (MAD) and its related proteins (MADR) are believed to be important components of the cell signaling pathway for the transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) superfamily, the presence and regulation of these signaling molecules in ovarian cells by TGFbeta is not known. In the present studies, we have examined the presence of MADR2 and MADR1, two members of the MADR ...

Asem, Elikplimi K., Wuxuan Qin, and Stanley G. Rane. Effect of basal lamina of ovarian follicle on Tand L-type Ca21 currents in differentiated granulosa cells. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 282: E184–E196, 2002.—Patch clamp experiments were conducted to study the effects of basal lamina (basement membrane) of chicken ovarian follicle on membrane Ca21 currents in differentiated chicken granulosa...

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) classification system for rat and mouse ovarian tumors is presented. The classification system is based on previous classification systems and on a review of all the primary ovarian tumors from the archives of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and NTP Carcinogenesis Testing Programs. The relative frequency and principal diagnostic features of 204 ovarian ...

1) Induction of ovarian tumor with a single intragastric instillation of a large but tolerable doses of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) was investigated on young female mice of C3H and C57BL strains, rats of Sprague-Dawley strain, guinea pigs, and rabbits. The ovarian tumor occurred in a high incidence only in C3H mice. 2) The induction of ovarian tumor in C3H mice with DMBA by various ro...

The ovary is the main regulator of female fertility. Granulosa cell dysfunction may be involved in various reproductive endocrine disorders. Here we investigated the effect of insulin resistance on the metabolism and function of ovarian granulosa cells, and dissected the functional status of the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway in these cells. Our data showed that dexamethason...

Activation of the RAS family of small G-proteins is essential for follicle stimulating hormone-induced signaling events and the regulation of target genes in cultured granulosa cells. To analyze the functions of RAS protein in granulosa cells during ovarian follicular development in vivo, we generated conditional knock-in mouse models in which the granulosa cells express a constitutively active...

Folliculogenesis is the process of development of ovarian follicles that ultimately results in the release of fertilizable oocytes at ovulation. This is a complex program that involves the proliferation and differentiation of granulosa cells. Granulosa cells are necessary for follicle growth and support the oocyte during folliculogenesis. Genes that regulate the proliferation and differentiatio...