Inhibitory actions of Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) on ovarian primordial follicle assembly

PLoS One. 2011;6(5):e20087. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020087. Epub 2011 May 27.

Abstract

The current study was designed to investigate the actions of Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) on primordial follicle assembly. Ovarian primordial follicles develop from the breakdown of oocyte nests during fetal development for the human and immediately after birth in rodents. AMH was found to inhibit primordial follicle assembly and decrease the initial primordial follicle pool size in a rat ovarian organ culture. The AMH expression was found to be primarily in the stromal tissue of the ovaries at this period of development, suggesting a stromal-epithelial cell interaction for primordial follicle assembly. AMH was found to promote alterations in the ovarian transcriptome during primordial follicle assembly with over 200 genes with altered expression. A gene network was identified suggesting a potential central role for the Fgf2/Nudt6 antisense transcript in the follicle assembly process. A number of signal transduction pathways are regulated by AMH actions on the ovarian transcriptome, in particular the transforming growth factor-beta (TGFß) signaling process. AMH is the first hormone/protein shown to have an inhibitory action on primordial follicle assembly. Due to the critical role of the primordial follicle pool size for female reproduction, elucidation of factors, such as AMH, that regulate the assembly process will provide insights into potential therapeutics to manipulate the pool size and female reproduction.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anti-Mullerian Hormone / metabolism
  • Anti-Mullerian Hormone / pharmacology*
  • Cell Count
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation / drug effects
  • Gene Regulatory Networks / genetics
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Oocytes / cytology
  • Oocytes / drug effects
  • Oocytes / metabolism
  • Ovarian Follicle / cytology
  • Ovarian Follicle / drug effects*
  • Ovarian Follicle / metabolism*
  • Progesterone / pharmacology
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects
  • Signal Transduction / genetics
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta / metabolism

Substances

  • Transforming Growth Factor beta
  • Progesterone
  • Anti-Mullerian Hormone