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Procr-expressing granulosa cells are highly proliferative and are important for follicle development.

ABSTRACT: Granulosa cells (GCs) play a critical role in folliculogenesis. It remains unclear how GCs expand during follicle development and whether there is a subpopulation of cells that is responsible for GCs growth. Here, we observed that a small population of GCs expressed stem cell surface marker Procr (Protein C receptor). Procr GCs displayed higher proliferation ability and lower levels of hormone receptors compared with Procr- GCs. Knockdown of Procr inhibited proliferation. Lineage tracing experiments demonstrated that they contribute to increasing numbers of GCs during folliculogenesis. Targeted ablation of Procr+ cells disrupted ovarian follicle development, leading to phenotypes of polycystic ovary syndrome. Our findings suggest that Procr-expressing GCs are endowed with high proliferative capacity that is critical for follicle development.

SUBMITTER: Wang J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7889980 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Procr-expressing granulosa cells are highly proliferative and are important for follicle development.

Wang Jingqiang J Chu Kun K Wang Yinghua Y Li Jinsong J Fu Junfen J Zeng Yi Arial YA Li Wen W

iScience 20210119 2

Granulosa cells (GCs) play a critical role in folliculogenesis. It remains unclear how GCs expand during follicle development and whether there is a subpopulation of cells that is responsible for GCs growth. Here, we observed that a small population of GCs expressed stem cell surface marker Procr (Protein C receptor). Procr GCs displayed higher proliferation ability and lower levels of hormone receptors compared with Procr- GCs. Knockdown of Procr inhibited proliferation. Lineage tracing experim ...[more]

PMID: 33644709

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Project description:In this study, we aimed to better understand the difference between the functions of the two types of granulosa cells and sought to discover more key genes involved in follicle development and follicle selection. Herein, we separately collected pre-hierarchical follicle granulosa cells (PHGCs) and preovulatory follicle granulosa cells (POGCs) for RNA extraction; the transcriptomes of the two groups were compared via RNA-seq. A total of 5273 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between the PHGCs and POGCs; 2797 genes were up-regulated and 2476 were down-regulated in the PHGCs compared with the POGCs. A qPCR analysis confirmed that the expression patterns of 16 randomly selected DEGs were highly consistent with the RNA-seq results. In the POGCs, many of the genes with the most significant increase in expression were related to steroid hormone synthesis. In addition, the genes with the most significant decline in expression, including AMH and WT1, were related to the inhibition of steroid hormone synthesis. These results suggest that steroid hormones play a key role in follicle development. Furthermore, a Gene Ontology (GO) analysis revealed that these DEGs were mainly involved in the primary metabolic process, the carbohydrate metabolic process, the cellular process, ribosomes, the cytoplasm, and intracellular processes. A Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis showed that the DEGs were mainly enriched in steroid biosynthesis, the cell cycle, ribosomes, the TGF-beta signaling pathway, focal adhesion, and so on. We also observed the morphology of the follicles at different developmental stages, and the results showed that the thickness of the granular layer of the small yellow follicles (SYFs) decreased significantly with further development. In addition, we also found that the thickness of the granulosa layer of hens over 300 days old was significantly lower than that of 200-day-old hens. In short, these data indicate that the tissue morphology and function of granulosa cells change throughout follicle development.

Dataset Information

Procr-expressing granulosa cells are highly proliferative and are important for follicle development.

Publications

Procr-expressing granulosa cells are highly proliferative and are important for follicle development.

Similar Datasets

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