Annexin V and propidium iodide bivariate analysis and the TUNEL method were used to quantify hormonal regulation of apoptosis in rabbit granulosa cells from preovulatory follicles in vitro. The aim of this study was to analyse comparatively the effects of gonadotrophins and their second messenger in the regulation of granulosa cell apoptosis in (i) cultured isolated granulosa cells and (ii) granulosa cells scraped from cultured follicles. The results showed that increasing doses of FSH had no effect on apoptosis of cultured isolated cells but caused a decrease in the number of apoptotic granulosa cells from preovulatory follicles cultured in serum-free conditions. Unlike FSH, addition of hCG did not modify apoptosis of granulosa cells significantly. In contrast, dibutyryl cAMP had an apoptotic effect in the two cellular models in the presence of serum. Moreover, a biphasic effect of dibutyryl cAMP in isolated granulosa cells was observed with an increase in the incorporation of [(3)H]thymidine into DNA at the lowest dose and an increase in apoptotic cell death at the highest dose. It was concluded that, in rabbits: (i) FSH requires follicle integrity to exert its anti-apoptotic effect in granulosa cells; (ii) dibutyryl cAMP induces a dose-dependent apoptotic effect in granulosa cells cultured alone or obtained from cultured preovulatory follicles; and (iii) cAMP signals induce opposite effects on growth and apoptosis in granulosa cells.

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