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Primordial follicle assembly was regulated by notch signaling pathway in the mice

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Abstract

Notch signaling pathway, a highly conserved cell signaling system, exists in most multicellular organisms. The objective of this study was to examine Notch signaling pathway in germ cell cyst breakdown and primordial follicle formation. The receptor and ligand genes of Notch pathway (Notch1, Notch2, Jagged1, Jagged2 and Hes1) were extremely down-regulated after newborn mouse ovaries were cultured then exposed to DAPT or L-685,458 in vitro (P < 0.01). Since DAPT or L-685,548 inhibits Notch signaling pathway, the expression of protein LHX8 and NOBOX was significantly reduced during the formation of the primordial follicles. Down-regulated mRNA expression of specific genes including Lhx8, Figla, Sohlh2 and Nobox, were also observed. The percentages of female germ cells in germ cell cysts and primordial follicles were counted after culture of newborn ovaries for 3 days in vitro. The result showed female germ cells in cysts was remarkably up-regulated while as the oocytes in primordial follicles was significantly down-regulated (P < 0.05). In conclusion, Notch signaling pathway may regulate the formation of primordial follicle in mice.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Nature Science Foundation (31001010, 31171376 and 31101716), National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2012CB944401 and 2011CB944501), and Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-12-1026), Foundation of Distinguished Young Scholars of Shandong Province (JQ201109), and Yantai Hi-Tech Zone Blue Ocean Talent Plan.

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The authors fully declare any financial or other potential conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Germ Cell Biology, Key Laboratory of Animal Reproduction and Germplasm Enhancement in Universities of Shandong, College of Animal Science and Technology, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 266109, China

    Chun-Lei Chen, Xia-Fei Fu, Lin-Qing Wang, Jun-Jie Wang, Shun-Feng Cheng, Zhu-Mei Hou, Wei Shen & Lan Li

  2. Center for Reproductive Biology, Weifang People’s Hospital, Weifang, 261041, China

    Hua-Gang Ma

  3. Animal Husbandry Bureau of Qixia City, Qixia, 265300, China

    Jin-Mei Ma

  4. Yunnan Animal Science and Veterinary Institution, Kunming, 650224, China

    Guo-Bo Quan

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  1. Chun-Lei Chen
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Correspondence to Lan Li.

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Chen, CL., Fu, XF., Wang, LQ. et al. Primordial follicle assembly was regulated by notch signaling pathway in the mice. Mol Biol Rep 41, 1891–1899 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-014-3038-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-014-3038-4

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