Yu Chao, Zhou Jian-Jie, Fan Heng-Yu
Life Science Institute and Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
Methods Mol Biol. 2016;1344:301-11. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-2966-5_19.
In mammals, ovulation is a multistep physiological process that includes preovulatory follicle growth, oocyte meiotic maturation, cumulus-oocyte complex (COC) expansion, follicle rupture, and luteinization. TGF-β signaling pathway has multiple functions in mammalian ovary, as its complexity in ovarian function has been demonstrated by mouse models with knockouts of TGF-β receptors and SMADs. We describe the protocol that we use to study functions of TGF-β signaling pathway in follicle development and ovulation. Because total knockout of TGF-β pathway components often causes embryonic lethality, which prevents further investigation of these genes in ovarian functions, people have generated ovarian cell type-specific knockout mouse strains for TGF-β signaling pathway genes. These mouse models are also described.
在哺乳动物中,排卵是一个多步骤的生理过程,包括排卵前卵泡生长、卵母细胞减数分裂成熟、卵丘-卵母细胞复合体(COC)扩张、卵泡破裂和黄体化。转化生长因子-β(TGF-β)信号通路在哺乳动物卵巢中具有多种功能,因为TGF-β受体和SMAD基因敲除的小鼠模型已证明其在卵巢功能中的复杂性。我们描述了用于研究TGF-β信号通路在卵泡发育和排卵中的功能的方案。由于TGF-β信号通路成分的完全敲除通常会导致胚胎致死,从而妨碍了对这些基因在卵巢功能中的进一步研究,因此人们构建了TGF-β信号通路基因的卵巢细胞类型特异性敲除小鼠品系。本文还描述了这些小鼠模型。