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Endocrinology Vol. 144, No. 1 172-178
Copyright © 2003 by The Endocrine Society


ARTICLE

Growth Differentiation Factor-9 Stimulates Inhibin Production and Activates Smad2 in Cultured Rat Granulosa Cells

Jae-Sook Roh, Jonas Bondestam, Sabine Mazerbourg, Noora Kaivo-Oja, Nigel Groome, Olli Ritvos and Aaron J. W. Hsueh

Division of Reproductive Biology (J.S.R., S.M., A.J.W.H.), Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305-5317; Program for Developmental and Reproductive Biology, Biomedicum Helsinki (J.B., N.K.-O., O.R.) and Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland; and School of Biological and Molecular Sciences (N.G.), Oxford Brookes University, Headington, Oxford OX3 0BP, United Kingdom

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Aaron J. W. Hsueh, Ph.D., Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305-5317. E-mail: aaron.hsueh{at}stanford.edu.

Ovarian inhibin production is stimulated by FSH and several TGFß family ligands including activins and bone morphogenetic proteins. Growth differentiation factor-9 (GDF-9) derived by the oocyte is a member of the TGFß/activin family, and we have previously shown that GDF-9 treatment stimulates ovarian inhibin-{alpha} content in explants of neonatal ovaries. However, little is known about GDF-9 regulation of inhibin production in granulosa cells and downstream signaling proteins activated by GDF-9. Here, we used cultured rat granulosa cells to examine the influence of GDF-9 on basal and FSH-stimulated inhibin production, expression of inhibin subunit transcripts, and the GDF-9 activation of Smad phosphorylation. Granulosa cells from small antral follicles of diethylstilbestrol-primed immature rats were cultured with FSH in the presence or absence of increasing concentrations of GDF-9. Secreted dimeric inhibin A and inhibin B were quantified using specific ELISAs, whereas inhibin subunit RNAs were analyzed by Northern blotting using 32P-labeled inhibin subunit cDNA probes. Similar to FSH, treatment with GDF-9 stimulated dose- and time-dependent increases of both inhibin A and inhibin B production. Furthermore, coincubation of cells with GDF-9 and FSH led to a synergistic stimulation of both inhibin A and inhibin B production. GDF-9 treatment also increased mRNA expression for inhibin-{alpha} and inhibin-ß subunits. To investigate Smad activation, granulosa cell lysates were analyzed in immunoblots using antiphosphoSmad1 and antiphosphoSmad2 antibodies. GDF-9 treatment increased Smad2, but not Smad1, phosphorylation with increasing doses of GDF-9 leading to a dose-dependent increase in phosphoSmad2 levels. To further investigate inhibin-{alpha} gene promoter activation by GDF-9, granulosa cells were transiently transfected with an inhibin-{alpha} promoter-luciferase reporter construct and cultured with different hormones before assaying for luciferase activity. Treatment with FSH or GDF-9 resulted in increased inhibin-{alpha} gene promoter activity, and combined treatment with both led to synergistic increases. The present data demonstrate that oocyte-derived GDF-9, alone or together with pituitary-derived FSH, stimulates inhibin production, inhibin subunit mRNA expression, and inhibin-{alpha} promoter activity by rat granulosa cells. The synergistic stimulation of inhibin secretion by the paracrine hormone GDF-9 and the endocrine hormone FSH could play an important role in the feedback regulation of FSH release, thus leading to the modulation of follicle maturation and ovulation.




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