ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF C/EBPß IN OVARIAN CELL TYPE SPECIFICATION IN THE MOUSE

Abstract

C/EBPß is a transcription factor essential for the differentiation of follicular granulosa cells in the mouse ovary. To further investigate the role of C/EBPß in ovarian cell type specification regulated by hormones, transplantation of ovaries between wild-type and C/EBP13-deficient mice were performed. We found that C/EBPß null granulosa cells are able to differentiate in a wild-type host if no host ovary is present. Furthermore, we found that C/EBPß-deficiency promotes transdifferentiation of granulosa cells to sertoli cells, which are normally found in testes but share a developmental precursor. Furthermore, transdifferentiation is under complex positive and negative regulation by systemic hormones. Ovarian sertoli-like cells are known to develop in aged ovaries and can lead to rare sertoli-form tumors. Our data demonstrate that C/EBPß and hormones participate in maintaining the granulosa cell phenotype, and shed some light on the molecular pathways that can lead to the generation of sertoli cells in ovaries.