Telomerase is crucial for chromosome stability because it maintains telomerelength. Little is known about telomerase in ovarian follicles, where an intense cell division iscrucial to sustain estrous cycle and to drive oocyte development. The present research wasperformed to detect, by immunohistochemistry, the distribution of telomerase catalyticsubunit (TERT) during folliculogenesis and to study the effect of TERT expression on telomeres.To this aim, telomere length has been measured on fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH)-processed sections either in follicular or in germ cells. In primary and preantral follicles,TERT was observed in granulosa and in germ cells, with a typical nuclear location. Duringantral differentiation, only somatic cells close to the antrum (antral layer) and cumulus cellsmaintained TERT expression. The relative oocytes located TERT in the ooplasm independentfrom the process of meiotic maturation. FISH results indicate that a correlation exists betweenTERT expression and telomere size. In fact, progressively bigger telomeres were observedfrom preantral to antral follicles where longer structures were recorded in cells of thecumulus oophorus and of the antral layer than those of the basal one. Stable and elongatedtelomeres were detected in fully grown oocytes that lost the functional TERT distributionwithin the nucleus.[...]
Expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase subunit (TERT) and telomere sizing in pig ovarian follicles
RUSSO, Valentina;BERARDINELLI, Paolo;MARTELLI, Alessandra;DI GIACINTO, Oriana;NARDINOCCHI, Delia;BARBONI, Barbara
2006-01-01
Abstract
Telomerase is crucial for chromosome stability because it maintains telomerelength. Little is known about telomerase in ovarian follicles, where an intense cell division iscrucial to sustain estrous cycle and to drive oocyte development. The present research wasperformed to detect, by immunohistochemistry, the distribution of telomerase catalyticsubunit (TERT) during folliculogenesis and to study the effect of TERT expression on telomeres.To this aim, telomere length has been measured on fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH)-processed sections either in follicular or in germ cells. In primary and preantral follicles,TERT was observed in granulosa and in germ cells, with a typical nuclear location. Duringantral differentiation, only somatic cells close to the antrum (antral layer) and cumulus cellsmaintained TERT expression. The relative oocytes located TERT in the ooplasm independentfrom the process of meiotic maturation. FISH results indicate that a correlation exists betweenTERT expression and telomere size. In fact, progressively bigger telomeres were observedfrom preantral to antral follicles where longer structures were recorded in cells of thecumulus oophorus and of the antral layer than those of the basal one. Stable and elongatedtelomeres were detected in fully grown oocytes that lost the functional TERT distributionwithin the nucleus.[...]I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
