Transcriptome Profiling of Granulosa and Theca Cells During Dominant Follicle Development in the Horse1

Abstract

Several aspects of equine ovarian physiology are unique among domestic species. Moreover, follicular growth patterns are very similar between horses and humans. This study aimed to characterize, for the first time, global gene expression profiles associated with growth and preovulatory (PO) maturation of equine dominant follicles. Granulosa cells (GCs) and theca interna cells (TCs) were harvested from follicles (n ¼ 5) at different stages of an ovulatory wave in mares corresponding to early dominance (ED; diameter !22 mm), late dominance (LD; !33 mm) and PO stage (34 h after administration of crude equine gonadotropins at LD stage), and separately analyzed on a horse gene expression microarray, followed by validation using quantitative PCR and immunoblotting/immunohistochemistry. Numbers of differentially expressed transcripts (DETs; !2-fold; P , 0.05) during the ED-LD and LD-PO transitions were 546 and 2419 in GCs and 5 and 582 in TCs. The most prominent change in GCs was the down-regulation of transcripts associated with cell division during both ED-LD and LD-PO. In addition, DET sets during LD-PO in GCs were enriched for genes involved in cell communication/adhesion, antioxidation/detoxification, immunity/inflammation, and cholesterol biosynthesis. In contrast, the largest change in TCs during the LD-PO transition was an upregulation of genes involved in immune activation, with other DET sets mapping to GPCR/cAMP signaling, lipid/amino acid metabolism, and cell proliferation/survival and differentiation.In conclusion, distinct expression profiles were identified between growing and PO follicles and, particularly, between GCs and TCs within each stage. Several DETs were identified that have not been associated with follicle development in other species.dominant follicle, equine, follicle development, gene expression, microarray

Transcriptome profile of one-month-old lambs’ granulosa cells after superstimulation

“…In horses, EFEMP1 and PTX3 transcripts were significantly up-regulated in GCs during early to late health dominance follicle [32]. ADM is possibly involved in the breakdown of the germinal vesicle [33].…”

“…ADM is possibly involved in the breakdown of the germinal vesicle [33]. SPP1 transcripts have been reported to rise in parallel with follicle size in both horses and cattle [32,34]. These extracellular matrix genes are involved in most pathways (Tables 3 and 4).…”

MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry Revealed Significant Lipid Variations in Follicular Fluid and Somatic Follicular Cells but Not in Enclosed Oocytes between the Large Dominant and Small Subordinate Follicles in Bovine Ovary

“…Along the ovarian follicle growth, GC increase estradiol production by converting TH-derived androgens into estrogens [ 11 ] and become highly steroidogenic within the weeks leading up to ovulation [ 12 ]. Both GC and TH layers express specific genes involved in steroidogenesis and lipid metabolism [ 13 ], and transcriptomic patterns of GC and TH changed along final follicular growth in bovine [ 14 , 15 , 16 ]. In addition, analysis of lipids in bovine ovarian follicular cells and fluid using Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionisation Time-Of-Flight Mass spectrometry (MALDI MS) revealed very specific lipid fingerprints in GC, TH, CC, oocyte and FF [ 13 ].…”

Transcriptomic Analysis of circRNAs and mRNAs Reveals a Complex Regulatory Network That Participate in Follicular Development in Chickens

“…Molecules such as CYP19A1 (Wang and Gong, 2017) and the hormone prostaglandin (Jia et al, 2010) promote the proliferation of TCs. The pathways involved in TC growth include the GPCR/cAMP signaling pathway and lipid/amino acid metabolism pathways in the horse (Donadeu et al, 2014) and the angiogenesis pathway in primates (Wulff et al, 2001).…”