Mitogen-activated protein kinase 3/1 (Mapk3/1) pathway is critical for LH signal transduction during ovulation. However, the mechanisms remain incompletely understood. We hypothesized that Mapk pathway regulates ovulation through transcriptional regulation of ovulatory genes. To test this hypothesis we used immature mice superovulated with equine and human chorionic gonadotropins (eCG and hCG) ...

BACKGROUND Human follicular fluid contains several substances, such as cytokines and growth factors, which may affect follicular growth and maturation. The present study examines the relative contribution of macrophages and granulosa cells in the production of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and adrenomedullin in the human ovulatory follicle. METHODS Both follicular fluid samples an...

Patch clamp experiments were conducted to study the effects of basal lamina (basement membrane) of chicken ovarian follicle on membrane Ca(2+) currents in differentiated chicken granulosa cells in a homologous system. The whole cell patch clamp technique was used to simultaneously monitor membrane capacitance (an indirect measure of total cell surface area) and currents flowing through voltage-...

The highly conserved polo-like kinases (Plks) are potent regulators of multiple functions in the cell cycle before and during mitotic cell division. We investigated the expression pattern of Plk genes and their potential role(s) in the rat ovary during the periovulatory period. Plk2 and Plk3 were highly induced both in intact ovaries and granulosa cells in vivo after treatment with the luteiniz...

The size of mature oocytes is similar across mammalian species, yet the size of ovarian follicles increases with species size, with some ovarian follicles reaching diameters>1000-fold the size of the enclosed oocyte. Here we show that the different follicular sizes can be explained with diffusion-based limitations on the thickness of the hormone-secreting granulosa layer. By analysing published...

The aim of this study was to determine the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), total antioxidant status (TAS) and accumulation of Hsp70 in porcine ovarian granulosa cells after deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEA) exposure in vitro. Porcine ovarian granulosa cells were incubated with DON/ZEA administrations as follows: group A (10/10 ng/mL), group B (100/...

Human ovarian granulosa cells were cultured on a basement membrane preparation (Matrigel) to investigate the role of extracellular matrix components in granulosa cell cluster formation. Time-lapse videomicroscopy of these cultures revealed a rapid aggregation of cells which was initiated during the first 2-4 h of culture so that by 8 h most of the granulosa cells were incorporated into clusters...

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of testosterone on mouse granulosa cell morphology, and the expression levels of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α). Mouse granulosa cells were isolated and identified, and their morphology was examined using hematoxylin and eosin, F-actin, and follicle-stimulating ho...

STUDY QUESTION Do the adipocytokines, leptin and adiponectin affect the granulosa cell expression of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) and its receptor (AMHR-II)? SUMMARY ANSWER Leptin suppresses AMH mRNA levels in human luteinized granulosa cells through the JAK2/STAT3 pathway, while adiponectin has no such effect. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY AMH is one of the most reliable markers of ovarian reserve...

BACKGROUND During the female reproductive cycle, follicular development and corpus luteum formation crucially depend on the fast generation of new blood vessels. The importance of granulosa cells and follicular fluid in controlling this angiogenesis is still not completely understood. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) produced by granulosa cells and secreted into the follicular fluid pl...