Expression of Sox8, Sf1, Gata4, Wt1, Dax1, and Fog2 in the mouse ovarian follicle: Implications for the regulation of Amh expression

Abstract

Anti-Mullerian hormone (Amh) is expressed in the granulosa cells of growing and preovulatory follicles in the mouse ovary where it acts to decrease responsiveness to follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and plays a role in inhibiting primordial follicle recruitment. Recently, co-culture of isolated oocytes and granulosa cells has demonstrated that Amh expression is up-regulated in the presence of oocytes and, at preantral stages, this effect is dependent upon close contact. In Sertoli cells, Amh expression is regulated by several transcription factors including SOX9, SF1, GATA4, WT1, and DAX1, which, with the exception of SOX9, are also expressed in granulosa cells where GATA4 is known to up-regulate Amh expression antagonised by FOG2. Here, we demonstrate that Sox8, which is closely related to Sox9 and encodes the protein SOX8 which can transactivate Amh, is expressed in the postnatal mouse ovarian follicle but is not co-expressed with Amh in the granulosa cells of preantral follicles. Sox8 expression was found only in the oocytes of preantral follicles and in the oocytes, cumulus cells, and mural granulosa cells of preovulatory follicles. Also, increased expression of Amh in granulosa cells co-cultured with oocytes was not associated with increased mRNA levels of the transcription factors Sf1, Gata4, Wt1, Dax1, or Fog2. These findings reveal Sox8 expression in the ovarian follicle and show that oocyte regulation of Amh expression is not due to oocyte regulation of Sf1, Gata4, Wt1, Dax1, or Fog2 expression in granulosa cells.

Bone morphogenetic protein 6 promotes FSH receptor and anti-Müllerian hormone mRNA expression in granulosa cells from hen prehierarchal follicles

“…In this regard, the actions of AMH have been linked to restricting initial follicle recruitment together with influencing the daily selection of an ovulatory follicle (Durlinger et al 2001, Visser & Themmen 2005. Similar to the mouse ovary (Salmon et al 2005), the stimulatory effects of BMP6 in undifferentiated granulosa cells are correlated with increased expression of the transcription factors, SF1, WT1, and GATA4 (Fig. 5, top panel).…”

Rhox8 Ablation in the Sertoli Cells Using a Tissue-Specific RNAi Approach Results in Impaired Male Fertility in Mice1

“…Real-time quantitative RT-PCR (qPCR) analysis of mRNA expression was performed using a MyiQ Single-Color Real-Time PCR Detection System (BioRad) with iQ SYBR Green supermix (BioRad) as the detector according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Primers for the Rhox genes, testis markers, and normalization genes have been previously reported [15,[18][19][20]. Primers were designed to amplify cDNAs of around 200 bp, all of which spanned at least one exon/intron junction, and exhibited similar amplification efficiency (97 6 3%) as assessed by amplification of cDNA dilution series.…”

Regulation of AMH by oocyte-specific growth factors in human primary cumulus cells

“…In Sertoli cells, the transcription factors SF1, SOX9, WT1, and GATA4 are involved in AMH upregulation (Giuili et al 1997, Lukas-Croisier et al 2003, Lasala et al 2004, Lasala et al 2011). Excluding SOX9, which is not expressed in the ovary, these factors are present in GCs (Salmon et al 2005) and have binding sites in the AMH promoter. However, whether they mediate the stimulatory effect of GDF9 and BMP15 or the inhibitory effect of FSH remains to be determined.…”