HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Figure 1 All Versions of this Article: 74/3/501    most recent biolreprod.105.045641v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Miyake, Y. Articles by Sato, E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Miyake, Y. Articles by Sato, E. Agricola Articles by Miyake, Y. Articles by Sato, E.

Expression and Glycosylation with Polylactosamine of CD44 Antigen on Macrophages During Follicular Atresia in Pig Ovaries¹

Laboratories of Animal Reproduction³ and Functional Morphology,⁴ Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, 981-8555, Japan

ABSTRACT

Macrophages are essential in cleaning up apoptotic debris during follicular atresia. However, the key factors of this process are still unclear. In the present study, we evaluated CD44 mRNA, CD44 protein, and CD44 antigen glycosylation on macrophages during follicular atresia in the pig. Atresia was classified into five stages: stage I, healthy follicles; stage II, early atretic follicles having apoptotic granulosa cells with an unclear basement membrane; stage III, progressing atretic follicles having apoptotic granulosa cells completely diffused from the basement membrane; stage IV, late atretic follicles with increasing lysosomal activity; and stage V, disintegrated atretic follicles having collapsed theca cells and strong lysosomal activity. Immunohistological analysis showed that macrophages expressing CD44 invaded the inside of stage III follicles, accompanied by a collapse of basement membrane. Semiquantitative RT-PCR showed that only mRNA of the CD44 standard isoform (CD44s) was present in inner cells of follicles, and not any CD44 variant isoform (CD44v) mRNAs. The amount of CD44s mRNA was increased at stage III. Western blot and lectin blot analyses showed that CD44 was markedly expressed at stage III and glycosylated with polylactosamine at the same time. After macrophages invaded atretic follicles at stages III–V, the CD44 expressed on macrophages was glycosylated with polylactosamine. The lysosomal activity began to increase at stage IV, and reached the highest level at stage V. Increased CD44s protein and posttranslational modification of CD44 with polylactosamine on macrophages from stage III could be involved in the cleaning up apoptotic granulosa cells.

apoptosis, granulosa cells, ovary

² Correspondence: Yuko Miyake, Laboratory of Animal Reproduction, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, 1–1 Tsutsumidori-amamiyamachi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 981-8555, Japan. FAX: 81 22 717 8687; yuko-okuy{at}bios.tohoku.ac.jp

¹ Supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Grant JSPS-16108003 (to E.S.), and in part by research grants from JSPS-17780207, the Inamori Foundation, and the Ito Foundation (to H.M.), and Joint Project of Japan-U.S. Cooperative Science Program (JSPS-AGR10002 to E.S.). Y.M. is a JSPS research fellow (Research Fellowships for Young Scientists Program, JSPS-17005038).