title: Effects of the FSH receptor gene polymorphism p.N680S on cAMP and steroid production in cultured primary human granulosa cells.
abstract: The study was designed to evaluate in vitro the cellular mechanisms of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) p.N680S of the FSH receptor gene (FSHR) in human granulosa cells (GC) and included patients homozygous for the FSHR SNP (NN/SS) undergoing ovarian stimulation. GC were isolated during oocyte retrieval and cultured for 1–7 days. Basal oestradiol and progesterone concentrations were measured after short-term culture. The kinetics of cAMP, oestradiol and progesterone concentrations in response to various amounts of FSH were analysed in a 6–7 day culture. Basal oestradiol, but not progesterone, concentrations on day 1 of GC culture, were significantly higher in NN compared with SS (P = 0.045), but non-responsive to FSH stimulation. Immunofluorescence microscopy demonstrated the re-appearance of FSHR expression with increasing days in culture. Upon stimulation with FSH, GC cultured for 6–7 days displayed a dose-dependent increase of cAMP, oestradiol and progesterone but no difference in the EC50 values between both variants. Primary long-term GC cultures are a suitable system to study the effects of FSH in vitro. However, the experiments suggest that factors down-stream of progesterone production or external to GC might be involved in the clinically observed differences in an FSHR variant-mediated response to FSH.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Reproductive Medicine and Andrology, University Hospital of Münster, Domagkstrasse 11, D-48149 Münster, Germany. vverena.nordhoff@ukmuenster.de
authors.forename: Verena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nordhoff
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sonntag
authors.forename: Dominik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: von Tils
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Götte
authors.forename: Andreas N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Schüring
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gromoll
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Redmann
authors.forename: Livio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Casarini
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simoni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000378:metabolism*; D004958:Estradiol / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D006107:Granulosa Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D006720:Homozygote; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility / Q000628:therapy; D007700:Kinetics; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D010062:Ovulation Induction / Q000379:methods*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011863:Radioimmunoassay / Q000379:methods; D011962:Receptors, FSH / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D011962:Receptors, FSH; D004958:Estradiol; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone; D000242:Cyclic AMP