Glial cell line–derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and its receptors in human ovaries from fetuses, girls, and women

Expression of neurotrophin 3 and its tropomyosin-related kinase receptor C in human preantral follicles

“…Ovarian samples were obtained from 15 human fetuses aged 21 to 33 gestational weeks, after pregnancy terminations performed because of fetal abnormalities (12,15,20). In addition, small ovarian biopsy samples were donated by 36 girls and women aged 5 to 39 years or their parents.…”

“…The remaining sample material was frozen for subsequent RNA extraction and cryostored for 3 months to 2 years until RNA extraction (12,15,20).…”

“…Studies suggest that neuronal growth factors such as neurotrophins (NTs) have roles in early folliculogenesis, including growth of primordial follicles (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21). Neurotrophins are a family of structurally related noncovalently linked homodimer polypeptides with approximately 50% sequence identity (22,23).…”

The roles of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor and nerve growth factor during the final stage of folliculogenesis: a focus on oocyte maturation

“…Consistent with studies conducted in rodents, work in our laboratory revealed that in the pig, GDNF and both its receptors are expressed in COCs at the mRNA and protein levels during the final stages of folliculogenesis and that GDNF is present in porcine follicular fluid derived from COCs isolated from both small, less mature and larger, more mature antral follicles (Linher et al 2007). Recently, GDNF and its receptors were detected at the mRNA and protein levels in oocytes and granulosa cells from human fetuses collected from terminated pregnancies at 21-35 weeks of gestation and in girls and women 5-39 years of age who underwent ovarian laparoscopies (Farhi et al 2010). Furthermore, single-cell screening for growth factors that could potentially enhance the maturation of cumulus-free, denuded oocytes isolated from patients receiving ICSI treatment revealed that GDNF mRNA levels were significantly higher in cumulus cells than in oocytes, while GFRA1 appeared to be exclusively expressed in oocytes (McElroy et al 2010).…”

Phospho-Signaling at Oocyte Maturation and Fertilization: Set Up for Embryogenesis and Beyond Part I. Protein Kinases

“…RET was detected in mammalian (human) oocytes (Farhi et al 2010) and are expressed in embryos throughout the early development with an increase after the early blastocyst stage (Kawamura et al 2008). Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and both its coreceptors, GDNF family receptor alpha-1 (GFR alpha-1) and RET receptor affect porcine oocyte maturation and pre-implantation embryo developmental competence in a follicular stage-dependent manner (Linher et al 2007).…”