scholarly journals The effect of human chorionic gonadotrophin on the expression of progesterone receptors in human luteal cells in vivo and in vitro

Reproduction ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 130 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
W Colin Duncan ◽  
Eva Gay ◽  
Jacqueline A Maybin

The human corpus luteum expresses genomic progesterone receptors (PRs) suggesting that progesterone may have an autocrine or paracrine role in luteal function. We hypothesised that the reduction in luteal PR reported in the late-luteal phase augmented progesterone withdrawal and had a role in luteolysis. We therefore tested the hypothesis that luteal rescue with human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) would maintain PR expression. PR was immunolocalised to different cell types in human corpora lutea (n = 35) from different stages of the luteal phase and after luteal rescue with exogenous hCG. There was no change in the staining intensity of theca-lutein cell or stromal cell PR throughout the luteal phase or after luteal rescue. In the late-luteal phase, granulosa-lutein cell PR immunostaining was reduced (P < 0.05) but the trend to reduction was also seen after luteal rescue with hCG (P = 0.055). To further investigate the effect of hCG on granulosa-lutein cell PR expression, an in vitro model system of cultured human luteinised granulosa cells was studied. Cells were cultured for 12–13 days exposed to different patterns of hCG and aminoglutethamide to manipulate progesterone secretion (P < 0.0001). Expression of PR A/B and PR B isoforms was examined by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. PR A/B mRNA was lower (P < 0.05) after 11–13 days of culture than after 7 days of culture. This reduction could not be prevented by hCG in the presence (P < 0.05) or absence (P < 0.05) of stimulated progesterone secretion. The expression of PR B mRNA showed a similar pattern (P = 0.054). Simulated early pregnancy in vivo and hCG treatment of luteinised granulosa cells in vitro did not appear to prevent the down-regulation of PR seen during luteolysis.

1981 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. RICHARDSON ◽  
G. M. MASSON

Cell suspensions were prepared from tissue samples of human corpora lutea obtained during the mid- and late-luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Both oestradiol and progesterone production by dispersed cells were stimulated by similar concentrations of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG). As the degree of stimulation of production by hCG was greater for progesterone than for oestradiol (five- to tenfold compared with two- to threefold higher than basal production), the ratio of progesterone to oestradiol produced varied according to the level of trophic stimulation. A comparison of cell suspensions prepared from mid- and late-luteal phase corpora lutea, exposed to the same concentration of hCG (10 i.u./ml) in vitro, did not reveal a shift to oestradiol production in the late-luteal phase. Provision of additional testosterone during incubation raised the level of oestradiol production by dispersed luteal cells. At an optimum concentration of testosterone (1 μmol/l), oestradiol synthesis was not raised further in the presence of hCG or N6, O2-dibutyryl cyclic AMP, suggesting a lack of induction or activation of the aromatase system by gonadotrophin in short-term cultures. Basal and stimulated levels of progesterone production were not significantly impaired in the presence of testosterone.


1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 961 ◽  
Author(s):  
EL Gregoraszczuk ◽  
M Skalka

To characterize thyroid hormone action in the ovary, the direct effect of triiodothyronine (T3) was investigated in vitro using a culture system of porcine theca cells (Tcs) and granulosa cells (Gcs) in mono- and co-culture (GT), the latter resembling follicles in vivo. The cells were cultured in the absence or presence of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) with or without T3 (10(-7), 10(-9) or 10(-11) M). Follicular cells were obtained from follicles of different size (small, medium and large), and steroid secretion into the culture medium was detected by radioimmunoassay. T3 alone did not influence steroid secretion by Tcs and Gcs isolated from follicles that were small and medium in size. In preovulatory follicles, an increase in basal androgen secretion and a simultaneous decrease in oestradiol secretion were observed with Tcs and Gcs in both mono- and co-culture. T3 together with hCG decreased hCG-stimulated androgen secretion in Tcs isolated from medium-sized follicles and had a simultaneous stimulatory effect on hCG-stimulated oestradiol secretion by Gcs. In cultures of follicular cells obtained from large follicles, T3 decreased hCG-stimulated secretion of both androgen and oestrogen by Tcs and simultaneously stimulated oestradiol secretion in GT co-cultures. Thus, the interaction of T3 with gonadotrophin hormone modulated follicular steroidogenesis, depending on follicle size and cell type used in culture. The observed T3-induced increase in basal androgen secretion by Tcs could account for the atresia of follicles, since it is accompanied by a decrease in oestradiol secretion in GT co-culture. In its co-activity with hCG, an adequate level of T3 prevents excessive androgen production by Tcs, probably influencing aromatization processes in the follicle. An increase in hCG-stimulated oestradiol secretion in GT co-cultures is then observed. Further investigations are required to clarify whether this is linked with an effect on the aromatization processes occurring in the follicle.


Reproduction ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 139 (5) ◽  
pp. 923-930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Beindorff ◽  
Almuth Einspanier

In early pregnant primates, relaxin (RLX) is highly upregulated within the corpus luteum (CL), suggesting that RLX may have an important role in the implantation of the blastocyst. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the local effects of RLX and gonadotrophins on the maintenance of the CL using anin vitromicrodialysis system. CLs of common marmoset monkeys were collected by luteectomy during different stages of the luteal phase and early pregnancy. Each CL was perfused with either Ringer's solution alone or Ringer's solution supplemented with either porcine RLX (250, 500 and 1000 ng/ml) or gonadotrophins (50 IU/ml). Application of RLX provoked a significant luteal response of progesterone (P4) and oestradiol (E2) secretions during the mid-luteal phase (500 ng/ml: P454±42%, E224±11%; 1000 ng/ml: E216±13%), and especially during the late luteal phase (250 ng/ml: P453±10%; 500 ng/ml: P444±15%; 1000 ng/ml: P462±15%, E218±7%). The effects of RLX on steroid secretion were irrespective of the RLX dosages. While treatment with human chorionic gonadotrophin did not affect luteal steroid or RLX secretion, the application of FSH resulted in a significant increase in the secretion of both P4(20±8%) and E2(37±28%), and a prominent rise in RLX during early pregnancy. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that RLX and FSH have a luteotrophic function in the marmoset monkeys; moreover, FSH has a function beyond its traditional role just as a follicle-stimulating hormone.


Reproduction ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 151 (5) ◽  
pp. 517-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keisuke Kozai ◽  
Shota Tokuyama ◽  
Anna Z Szóstek ◽  
Yuko Toishi ◽  
Nobuo Tsunoda ◽  
...  

AbstractIn mares, prostaglandin F2α(PGF2α) secreted from the endometrium is a major luteolysin. Some domestic animals have an auto-amplification system in which PGF2αcan stimulate its own production. Here, we investigated whether this is also the case in mares. In anin vivostudy, mares at the mid-luteal phase (days 6–8 of estrous cycle) were injected i.m. with cloprostenol (250 µg) and blood samples were collected at fixed intervals until 72 h after treatment. Progesterone (P4) concentrations started decreasing 45 min after the injection and continued to decrease up to 24 h (P < 0.05). In turn, 13,14-dihydro-15-keto-PGF2α(PGFM) metabolite started to increase 4h after an injection and continued to increase up to 72 h (P < 0.05). PGF receptor (PTGFR) mRNA expression in the endometrium was significantly higher in the late luteal phase than in the early and regressed luteal phases (P < 0.05).In vitro, PGF2αsignificantly stimulated (P < 0.05) PGF2αproduction by endometrial tissues and endometrial epithelial and stromal cells and significantly increased (P < 0.05) the mRNA expression of prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase-2 (PTGS2), an enzyme involved in PGF2αsynthesis in endometrial cell. These findings strongly suggest the existence of an endometrial PGF2αauto-amplification system in mares.


1989 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. K. Iles ◽  
T. Chard

ABSTRACT Material with the immunochemical characteristics of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) is produced by bladder tumour cells in vitro and in vivo. In order to characterize this material further, media were collected from 17 cell cultures (three choriocarcinomas, seven bladder carcinomas and seven 'normal' urothelium). The hCG-like material was compared with pregnancy hCG and purified α- and β-subunits by specific radioimmunoassays. Media were also submitted to affinity chromatography and the fractions further analysed by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. It was shown that both the neoplastic and normal urothelium produced only free β-subunit-like material. This urothelial 'β-hCG' has the same molecular weight and electrophoretic mobility as that present in the intact hCG of pregnancy.


1983 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
pp. 406-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalle Jääkeläinen ◽  
Seppo Markkanen ◽  
Hannu Rajaniemi

Abstract. The subcellular distribution of 125I-labelled human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) in preovulatory rat granulosa cells was studied in vivo. Pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin-pretreated immature female rats received an iv injection of [125I]hCG a few hours before the endogenous preovulatory gonadotrophin surge. The animals were killed at 2 or 6 h after the [125I]hCG injections. Light microscope autoradiographs showed that the mural granulosa cells of large follicles were the most highly labelled cells in the ovaries. Electron microscope autoradiography was used to study the subcellular distribution of radioactivity in the mural granulosa cells. At 2 h 45% of the counted silver grains were associated with the plasma membrane and 10% with the lysosomes, at 6 h the values were 51% and 9%, respectively. The distribution of the observed silver grains was compared with the generated expected source to grain pairs by computerized linear multiple regression analysis. The magnitudes of the regression coefficients revealed that the plasma membrane and the lysosomes were the only specifically 125I-labelled organelles, that a few radioactive molecules were located diffusely over the cytoplasm at 2 h and that the 125I-radioactivity of the nuclei was negligible. The present results suggest that preovulatory rat granulosa cells are in vivo able to internalize into lysosomes [125I]hCG initially bound to LH/hCG receptors of the plasma membrane.


1985 ◽  
Vol 110 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Hillensjö ◽  
A. Sjögren ◽  
B. Strander ◽  
L. Nilsson ◽  
M. Wikland ◽  
...  

Abstract. Granulosa cells were obtained from human preovulatory follicles in 31 women undergoing in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer due to tubal infertility. Follicular maturation was stimulated and synchronized by treatment with Clomiphene or human menopausal gonadotrophin (hMG), or both, plus human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG). Follicles were aspirated by ultrasound guided puncture approximately 34–36 h after the hCG injection. The granulosa cells were washed and suspended in modified medium 199 containing 10% foetal bovine serum and cultured as monolayers for 6–8 days in the absence and presence of hormones and reactants. Progesterone formation was analyzed by RIA. In general, the cells underwent morphological luteinization and secreted high amount of progesterone. Under basal conditions the secretion of progesterone was highest during the first 2 days in culture and then gradually declined. Progesterone secretion was stimulated by human LH, hCG and the adenylate cyclase stimulator forskolin, with a maximal effect between days 2–6. The β-adrenergic agonist isoproteronol in preliminary experiments potentiated the stimulatory effect of hCG but had no own stimulatory effect. No clear differences in progesterone secretion or responsiveness to in vitro stimulation relating to the various in vivo stimulation protocols were found.


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