title: Endogenous release of female hormones from co-microencapsulated rat granulosa and theca cells.
abstract: Deficiency of female hormones is the principal cause of menopausal syndrome. The aim of this study was to establish a co-microencapsulation model of ovarian granulosa cells (GCs) and theca cells (TCs), and to investigate its endogenous release of female hormones. Rat ovarian GCs and TCs were isolated and co-microencapsulated in alginate-chitosan-alginate microcapsules. The effects of cell number ratio of GCs/TCs on syntheses of estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4) were investigated in vitro. Serum levels of E2 and P4 in ovariectomized rats were measured for 60 days after the co-microencapsulated GCs and TCs were transplanted. It was showed that E2 synthesis in vitro was influenced by cell number ratio of GCs/TCs and the ratio for the maximum synthesis was 1:2. Serum E2 and P4 levels could be maintained normal for 60 days by the co-microencapsulated GCs/TCs. Transplantation of co-microencapsulated GCs/TCs may be a promising approach to provide endogenous female hormones for menopausal syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmaceutics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Cong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xiaolu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Luan
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Liangliang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Wang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Longxiao
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018914:Cells, Immobilized / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D004958:Estradiol / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006107:Granulosa Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D011374:Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013799:Theca Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011374:Progesterone; D004958:Estradiol