Expression of fibroblast growth factor-8 and its cognate receptors, fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR)-3c and-4, in fetal bovine preantral follicles.
Paracrine cell signaling is thought to be important for ovarian follicle development, and a role for some members of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family have been suggested. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that FGF-8 and its cognate receptors (FGFR-3c and FGFR-4) are expressed in bovine preantral follicles. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to amplify bovine FGF-8, FGFR-3c, and FGFR-4 from preantral follicle samples and a variety of fetal and adult tissues. All three genes were widely expressed in fetal tissues, with a restricted expression pattern in adult tissues. FGF-8 and FGFR-3c were expressed in secondary follicles in 70% of fetuses examined, whereas FGFR-4 expression was significantly less frequent (20%). FGFR-3c expression frequency was significantly lower in primordial compared to secondary follicles, and FGF-8 expression showed a similar trend. FGFR-4 was only observed when all follicle classes of an individual were expressing both FGF-8 and FGFR-3c. We conclude that FGF-8 and its receptors are expressed in preantral follicles in a developmentally regulated manner.
Buratini
J
J
Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Botucatu, Sãao Paulo, Brasil. buratini@ibb.unesp.br
Glapinski
V F
VF
Giometti
I C
IC
Teixeira
A B
AB
Costa
I B
IB
Avellar
M C W
MC
Barros
C M
CM
Price
C A
CA
D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D017931:DNA Primers; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000378:metabolism*; D051524:Fibroblast Growth Factor 8; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D006080:Ovarian Follicle / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism*; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D051498:Receptor, Fibroblast Growth Factor, Type 3; D051499:Receptor, Fibroblast Growth Factor, Type 4; D017468:Receptors, Fibroblast Growth Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology
D017931:DNA Primers; D017468:Receptors, Fibroblast Growth Factor; D051524:Fibroblast Growth Factor 8; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D051498:Receptor, Fibroblast Growth Factor, Type 3; D051499:Receptor, Fibroblast Growth Factor, Type 4