Influence of clomiphene citrate in vivo on subsequent steroid formation and gonadotropic responsiveness in vitro of isolated human follicular cells.

Granulosa and thecal cells from human preovulatory follicles, extirpated from the ovaries of women undergoing sterilization by minilaparotomy, were incubated for 2 hours in the presence or in the absence of human gonadotropin (hCG). The follicles were obtained from 16 women, 8 of whom had previously been treated with clomiphene citrate (CC) to induce follicular maturation. The tissue contents of cyclic AMP (cAMP) and the content of progesterone (P), testosterone (T) and estradiol-17 beta (E2) in the incubation medium were measured. Granulosa and thecal cells from control and CC-induced follicles all responded to hCG in vitro with increased formation of cAMP. Both granulosa and thecal cells from CC-induced follicles produced larger amounts of P in vitro than cells from spontaneously matured follicles. There were no other differences in the patterns of steroid formation or reactivity to hCG between the cells from the two types of follicle. It is concluded that CC treatment in vivo induces the growth and maturation of preovulatory follicles with apparently normal biochemical characteristics, as far as the content of and capacity to form cyclic AMP, progesterone, testosterone and estradiol-17 beta are concerned.