Direct actions of androgens on the survival, growth and secretion of steroids and anti-Mullerian hormone by individual macaque follicles during three-dimensional culture

Abstract

NIH U54 RR024347/RL1HD058294/PL1EB008542 (Oncofertility Consortium), NIH U54 HD071836 (SCCPIR), NIH ORWH/NICHD 2K12HD043488 (BIRCWH), NIH FIC TW/HD-00668, ONPRC 8P51OD011092. There are no conflicts of interest.

Anti-Müllerian hormone is produced heterogeneously in primate preantral follicles and is a potential biomarker for follicle growth and oocyte maturation in vitro

“…The increased CYP19A1 mRNA levels may be due to overexposure of follicles to FSH during culture, which is consistent with the observation that FSH stimulated the proliferation of granulosa cells, as well as their CYP19A1 expression and estradiol secretion [30]. The change in steroid (e.g., progesterone, androgen, and estrogen) production may affect subsequent follicular growth and oocyte maturation in vitro [12,26]. Therefore, the culture conditions need to be further improved to optimize granulosa and theca cell proliferation and differentiation in antral follicles to facilitate proper steroidogenic function and oocyte maturation that mimics in vivo follicular development.…”

“…Since AMH production by individual ↑/↓ mRNA levels increased/decreased in in vitro-versus in vivo-developed small antral follicles a Log2FoldChange in mRNA levels that is greater than 2 by RNA sequencing; n = 4 animals preantral follicles correlated positively with follicle growth rate in vitro, as reported in the current and previous [10] studies, the heterogeneity of AMH production may indicate differences in the local actions of AMH and in growth capacities of preantral follicles in primates. The three-dimensional follicle culture system is valuable as an in vitro model for studying indices of primate ovarian folliculogenesis [12,25,26]. To date, the transcriptome of in vitro-developed follicles has only been studied in mouse from the secondary to antral stage during culture [27].…”

“…Ovariectomies were conducted on anesthetized monkeys at early follicular phase (days 1-4 of the cycle). Ovaries were immediately transferred into HEPES-buffered holding media (CooperSurgical, Inc., Trumbull, CT, USA) and kept at 37°C for subsequent processing [12]. Four monkeys (11-12 years old) provided ovaries for experiment I, and 35 (4-12 years old) for experiment II.…”

“…This was a retrospective study including follicles obtained from animals reported in previous studies [10,12,16,17]. As described in experiment I, secondary follicles (diameter 125-225 μm; 12-24 follicles/monkey) were isolated from ovaries of each monkey and cultured individually for 5 weeks.…”

Effect of follicular diameter, time of first cleavage and H3K4 methylation on embryo production rates of Bos indicus cattle

“…Knowledge regarding the physiology of different species has enabled the development of relatively efficient IVEP protocols for pigs (YOSHIOKA et al, 2012), sheep (AMIRIDIS; CSEH, 2012), goats (RODRÍGUEZ-DORTA et al, 2007) and cattle (PONTES et al, 2011). However, there are many differences between the taurus and indicus subspecies, such as their follicle populations and numbers of oocytes and embryos recovered by ovum pick-up and uterine flushing (CASTRO NETO et al, 2005;PONTES et al, 2010;SILVA-SANTOS et al, 2014), that directly affect embryo production outcomes.…”