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First published online March 30, 2007

Journal of Cell Science 120, 803e (2007)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
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In this issue

Opposing gradients make follicles fit for function


Figure 1

Ovarian follicles, the structures where oocytes develop, contain two types of granulosa cell: cumulus cells surrounding the oocyte promote its development through reciprocal interactions and later expand to facilitate ovulation; mural granulosa cells lining the follicle have an endocrine function. Both cell types develop from one precursor cell but how? The answer, report John Eppig and co-authors on p. 1330, is opposing gradients of pituitary-derived follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and oocyte-stimulated SMAD2/3 signalling. Oocyte-derived members of the TGFbeta superfamily are key regulators of ovarian function. The authors show that cumulus cells contain more phosphorylated SMAD2, which transduces TGFbeta signals, than do mural granulosa cells. Oocytectomy or treatment of cumulus-oocyte complexes with an inhibitor of SMAD2/3 activation, they also report, reduces the levels of cumulus cell markers, blocks cumulus expansion, and allows FSH to induce mural cell transcripts. Thus, they suggest, opposing gradients of FSH signals from outside the follicle and oocyte-stimulated SMAD2/3 signals from within specify the two cell types that provide the developmental and endocrine functions of the ovarian follicle.


Related articles in JCS:

Oocytes determine cumulus cell lineage in mouse ovarian follicles
Francisco J. Diaz, Karen Wigglesworth, and John J. Eppig
JCS 2007 120: 1330-1340. [Abstract] [Full Text]  




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