Project description:In this study, the participation of fetal factors in maintaining the immune balance during gestation was investigated by assessing the effects of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) on murine Treg cells and Th17 cells.
Project description:We previously showed that recombinant human chorionic gonadotropin (r-hCG) induces mammary gland differentiation and inhibits mammary tumorigenesis in rats. The present study investigates the impact of r-hCG on the stemness of mammary epithelial cells by using a rat model. We performed microarray analysis of RNA isolated from mammospheres formed by normal mammary epithelial cells extracted from rats treated for 21 days either with r-hCG or vehicle (control).
Project description:We investigate the role of Snf2l in ovaries by characterizing a mouse bearing an inactivating deletion on the ATPase domain of Snf2l (Ex6DEL). Snf2l mutant mice produce significantly fewer eggs than control mice when superovulated. Thus, gonadotropin stimulation leads to a significant deficit in secondary follicles and an increase in abnormal antral follicles. We profiled the expression of granulosa cells from Snf2l WT and Ex6DEL mice treated with pregnant mares' serum gonadotropin followed by human chorionic gonadotropin Granulosa cells from either Snf2l WT or Ex6DEL mice treated with PMSG followed by hCG were collected at 0h and 4h post-hCG. Each array includes granulosa cells pooled from 5 mice.
Project description:A mouse leydig tumour cell line (mLTC-1) was grown in culture and stimulated with either human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG, 10 ng/ml) alone or hCG & bisphenol A (BPA, an endrocrine disrupting chemical, 10 uM) for three hours. Cells from triplicate plates were harvested, RNA extracted, labelled and hybridised to Affymetrix Mouse genome 430 2.0 arrays. Preliminary work by RT-PCR had shown that stimulation of the cell line by BPA resulted in changes in gene expression in the spermatogenesis pathway at this time point.
Project description:Intrauterine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) therapy for recurrent implantation failure (RIF) has been reported to improve embryo implantation by acting on the endometrium. However, the exact mode of action of PBMC on the endometrium and the differences in the therapeutic effects of PBMC therapy with and without human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) are unknown. In this study, we investigated the changes in the endometrium during the implantation phase induced by PBMC administration and the differences in the efficacy of this therapy with and without hCG using a mouse model of implantation failure (IF).
Project description:To understand the role of prostaglandin (PG) receptor EP2 (Ptger2) signaling in ovulation and fertilization, we investigated time-dependent expression profiles in wild-type (WT) and Ptger2-/- cumuli before and after ovulation by using microarrays. We used Affymetrix U74A ver2 microarrays to investigate gonadotropin-induced gene expression profiles in WT and EP2KO cumulus cells before and after ovulation. Immature mice were primed with pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG) as an FSH-like stimulation. The cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were isolated from mice 48 h after PMSG injection (H0) and from PMSG-primed mice exposed to human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) as an LH-like stimulation for 3, 9 or 14 h (H3, H9 or H14, respectively).
Project description:We previously established an alginate hydrogel-based 3D encapsulated in vitro follicle growth (eIVFG) system to culture mouse and human immature follicles in vitro. The alginate encapsulation maintained the 3D architecture of follicles and support their growth from the secondary to the antral stage to acquire maturation. Upon the stimulation of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a LH analog, the grown antral follicle from eIVFG was able to rupture, undergo cumulus cell expansion, and ovulate a fertilizable metaphase II (MII) oocytes. We have also demonstrated that mouse follicles cultured using eIVFG preserved dynamic transcriptomic profile of many key genes that are essential for gonadotropin-dependent folliculogenesis, such as genes related to gonadotropin hormone receptors and ovarian steroidogenesis. However, it is unknown whether these follicles preserve molecular signatures of ovulation, which would enable this system to serve as a truly scalable and highly controllable system for nominating therapeutic and contraceptive candidates. In the present study, we treated mouse mature follicles from eIVFG with hCG to induce in vitro ovulation. Follicles were collected at 0, 1, 4, and 8 hours post-hCG for single-follicle RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis. Our results showed that follicles grown from eIVFG preserve key ovulatory genes and signaling pathways.
Project description:Gene expression profiling of immortalized human mesenchymal stem cells with hTERT/E6/E7 transfected MSCs. hTERT may change gene expression in MSCs. Goal was to determine the gene expressions of immortalized MSCs.
