Estrogen promotes the development of mouse cumulus cells in coordination with oocyte-derived GDF9 and BMP15.

ABSTRACT: The differentiation and function of cumulus cells depend upon oocyte-derived paracrine factors, but studies on the estrogen receptor knockout mice suggested that estrogen also participates in these processes. This study investigates the possible coordination of estrogen and oocytes in the development and function of cumulus cells using cumulus expansion and the expression of transcripts required for expansion as functional endpoints. Preantral granulosa cell-oocyte complexes developed in vitro with 17β-estradiol (E2) exhibited increased levels of cumulus expansion and Has2 transcripts, encoding hyaluronan synthase 2, compared with those developed without E2. Moreover, cumulus cell-oocyte complexes (COCs) isolated from antral follicles and maintained in culture without E2 exhibited reduced

SUBMITTER: Sugiura K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2999473 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature