title: An immortalized steroidogenic goat granulosa cell line as a model system to study the effect of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-stress response on steroidogenesis.
abstract: With granulosa and theca cells, the ovaries are responsible for producing oocytes and secreting sex steroids such as estrogen and progesterone. Endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) plays an important role in follicle atresia and embryo implantation. In this study, goat granulosa cells were isolated from medium-sized (4-6 mm) healthy follicles. Primary granulosa cells were immortalized by transfection with human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) to establish a goat granulosa cell line (hTERT-GGCs). These hTERT-GGCs expressed hTERT and had relatively long telomeres at passage 50. Furthermore, hTERT-GGCs expressed the gonadotropin receptor genes CYP11A1, StAR, and CYP19A1, which are involved in steroidogenesis. Additionally, progesterone was detectable in hTERT-GGCs. Although the proliferation potential of hTERT-GGCs significantly improved, there was no evidence to suggest that the hTERT-GGCs are tumorigenic. In addition, thapsigargin (Tg) treatment led to a significant dose-dependent decrease in progesterone concentration and steroidogenic enzyme expression. In summary, we successfully generated a stable goat granulosa cell line. We found that Tg induced ERS in hTERT-GGCs, which reduced progesterone production and steroidogenic enzyme expression. Future studies may benefit from using this cell line as a model to explore the molecular mechanisms regulating steroidogenesis and apoptosis in goat granulosa cells.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, 712100, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Diqi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Pengfei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Huatao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Keqiong
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Aihua
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yaping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001141:Aromatase / Q000235:genetics; D063646:Carcinogenesis; D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002786:Cholesterol Side-Chain Cleavage Enzyme / Q000235:genetics; D004721:Endoplasmic Reticulum / Q000378:metabolism*; D059865:Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress; D004958:Estradiol / Q000378:metabolism; D004967:Estrogens / Q000096:biosynthesis; D005260:Female; D006041:Goats; D006107:Granulosa Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D007621:Karyotyping; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology; D010053:Ovary / Q000378:metabolism; D010641:Phenotype; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000235:genetics; D011374:Progesterone / Q000096:biosynthesis; D013256:Steroids / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D019098:Telomerase / Q000378:metabolism; D016615:Telomere / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013799:Theca Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D000098682:Steroidogenic Acute Regulatory Protein
chemical_list: D004967:Estrogens; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D013256:Steroids; D000098682:Steroidogenic Acute Regulatory Protein; D011374:Progesterone; D004958:Estradiol; D001141:Aromatase; C561410:CYP19A1 protein, human; D002786:Cholesterol Side-Chain Cleavage Enzyme; D019098:Telomerase