Figure 5.

Effect of signaling inhibitors on the hCG-induced increase in SCG2 expression in human granulosa cells in vitro. GLCs were collected at the time of oocyte retrieval from women undergoing IVF. The cells were processed as described in “Materials and Methods” to regain responsiveness to hCG. Following this acclimation period, the cells were treated with one of the following inhibitors for 1 hour and then treated with or without hCG: (A) AG1478 (10 μM; EGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor), (B) RU486 (20 μM; P4 receptor antagonist), or (C) NS398 (15 μM; selective PTGS2 inhibitor). The cells were processed for mRNA isolation and cDNA synthesis and were subjected to qPCR to measure the mRNA levels of SCG2. All values were normalized to GAPDH. Graphs represent mean ± SEM. Bars that do not share a letter designation are significantly different (n = 5 to 8 patients per group, P ≤ 0.05).