Progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) mediates antimitotic and antiapoptotic actions of progesterone in granulosa cells, which indicates that PGRMC1 may play a key role in maintaining the status of granulosa cells. The current study investigated the effects of progesterone on intracellular signaling involved in differentiation, follicle development, inflammatory responses, and antioxidation, and determined the role of PGRMC1 in these processes. Our results demonstrated that progesterone slowed follicle development and inhibited p-ERK1/2, p-p38, caspase-3, p-NF-κB, and p-IκB-α signals involved in differentiation, steroidogenesis, and inflammatory responses in granulosa cells. Progesterone inhibited the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein and the cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme and decreased pregnenolone production. A PGRMC1 inhibitor and a PGRMC1 small interfering RNA ablated these inhibitory effects of progesterone. Interfering with PGRMC1 functions also decreased cellular antioxidative effects induced by an oxidant. These results suggest that PGRMC1 might play a critical role in maintaining the status of granulosa cells and balancing follicle numbers.

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Modeling, optimization and performance of onchip solenoid inductors is presented. MATLAB is used to get the p-equivalent circuit model parameters. The effects of the geometrical parameters on the inductance and quality factor (Q-factor) are different. Normally, the performance of the inductors can be improved by increasing the coil turns in a way and increasing the length of the conductor, but both of them will occupy more chip area, which is not good for the minimization of the on-chip system. It is desirable to improve the performance of inductor by increasing the height of the via. Of the three types of fabricated inductors covering the same area, the inductors with the height of via 15, 30 and 45 lm have high performance. The self-resonant frequency is up to 10 GHz. The inductances and Q-factors at peak-Q frequency (about 5.8 GHz) are 1.16, 1.35, 1.78 nH and 21.9, 27, 38, respectively.

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