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BOR - Papers in Press, published online ahead of print June 9, 2004.
Biol Reprod 2004, 10.1095/biolreprod.104.027912
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BIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION 71, 1290–1295 (2004)
DOI: 10.1095/biolreprod.104.027912
© 2004 by the Society for the Study of Reproduction, Inc.

Ovary

Expression of Growth Differentiation Factor 9 Messenger RNA in Porcine Growing and Preovulatory Ovarian Follicles1

Radek Prochazka2, Lucie Nemcova, Eva Nagyova, and Jiri Kanka

Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 277 21 Libechov, Czech Republic

We have shown previously that porcine cumulus and mural granulosa cells produce a factor that is very similar, if not identical, to the oocyte-derived cumulus expansion-enabling factor (CEEF). Because growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9) is the most likely candidate for the CEEF, in the present study we tested the hypothesis that GDF9 is expressed not only in oocytes in the pig but also in somatic follicular cells. In addition, we asked whether the relative abundance (RA) of GDF9 mRNA changes in oocytes and/or follicular cells during the periovulatory period or culture of oocyte-cumulus complexes (OCCs) in vitro. Denuded oocytes, OCCs, cumulus, and mural granulosa cells were isolated from growing and preovulatory follicles. Total RNA was extracted from the cells, and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was carried out using specific oligonucleotide primers. The RT-PCR resulted in amplification of a product of expected size (277 base pairs) in samples prepared from all follicular cell types. The identity of the RT-PCR products with GDF9 was confirmed by analysis of their nucleotide sequence, which was 88% and 91% identical to human and ovine GDF9, respectively. The RA of GDF9 mRNA in the somatic follicular cells was approximately fourfold lower than in oocytes. Assessment of the RA of GDF9 mRNA during the periovulatory period and during culture and expansion of OCCs in vitro revealed that it remained stable in oocytes and mural granulosa cells and decreased significantly in expanding cumulus cells. We conclude that GDF9 mRNA can be produced by somatic follicular cells in the pig and that cumulus expansion is not preceded or accompanied by an increase in the RA of GDF9 mRNA in any of the tested cell types.

1 Supported by grant 524/01/0903 from Grant Agency of the Czech Republic and A5045102 from Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

2 Correspondence: Radek Prochazka, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics, Rumburská 89, 277 21 Libechov, Czech Republic. FAX: 420 315 639 510; prochazka{at}iapg.cas.cz






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Copyright © 2004 by the Society for the Study of Reproduction.