This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. In mammalian species, the midcycle surge of gonadotropin hormone (notably luteinizing hormone, LH) initiates a cascade of events in the ovary leading to ovulation of the mature follicle (i.e., rupture of the follicle wall and release of the fertilizable oocyte), as well as conversion of the follicle wall into a new endocrine gland, the corpus luteum. Although investigators have examined the expression and activity of a few specific cellular pathways in the ovulatory follicle, and their regulation by LH, the recent development of genomics approaches permits, for the first time, a more global evaluation of LH-regulated genes in the ovulatory, luteinizing follicle. Most studies to date have utilized ovarian stimulation (superovulation) protocols in which a large number of preovulatory follicles develop in response to pharmacologic levels of gonadotropins. However, this model has its limitations, including the heterogeneity of the follicle pool. This laboratory group recently developed a controlled ovulation (COv) model which, for the first time, permits evaluation of events in the naturally selected, single dominant follicle at specific intervals after exposure to an ovulatory gonadotropin stimulus during the menstrual cycle in a primate species, the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta). Using this novel model, the research objectives are: (1) to systematically evaluate, using a DNA microarray approach, the changes in gene expression that occur in the ovulatory, luteinizing follicle in primates, and (2) to verify changes in expression of selected genes and identify the tissue compartment(s) and cell type(s) expressing these genes in the ovulatory follicle.
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