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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Regulation of steroidogenic function of luteal cells by thrombospondin and insulin in water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

Avishek Paul A , Meeti Punetha A , Sai Kumar A , Arvind Sonwane B , Vikrant S. Chouhan A , Gyanendra Singh A , V. P. Maurya A and M. Sarkar https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4252-4027 A C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Physiology and Climatology Division, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, 243122, India.

B Division of Animal Genetics, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, 243122, India.

C Corresponding author. Email: msarkar24@gmail.com

Reproduction, Fertility and Development 31(4) 751-759 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD18188
Submitted: 21 May 2018  Accepted: 6 November 2018   Published: 4 December 2018

Abstract

The present study examined the effect of exogenous thrombospondin 1 (TSP1) on the steroidogenic function of luteal cells cultured in vitro. Furthermore, the transcriptional interaction of insulin with TSP1 and its receptor, cluster of differentiation 36 (CD36) were also investigated. At the highest dose (500 ng mL−1) TSP1 significantly downregulated the expression of the angiogenic marker von Willebrand factor (vWF) and progesterone production in cultured luteal cells. Moreover, the simultaneous upregulation in the expression of caspase 3 by exogenous TSP1 was consistent with a reduction in the number of viable luteal cells as determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltertrazolium bromide (MTT) assay after 72 h of culture. However, the expression of critical enzymes in the progesterone synthetic pathway was not significantly modulated by treatment with TSP1 in cultured luteal cells. Knocking out of endogenous TSP1 with the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/ CRISPR associated protein 9 (Cas9) system improved the viability of luteal cells as well as increasing progesterone production and decreasing caspase 3 activation. Insulin treatment suppressed the expression of TSP1 and CD36 in cultured luteal cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. To conclude, TSP1 acts as a negative endogenous regulator of angiogenesis that attenuates progesterone production, possibly by reducing the number of luteal cells via apoptosis during luteal regression, whereas insulin as a luteinising signal may have inhibited the thrombospondin system for the efficient development of luteal function.

Additional keywords: angiogenesis, apoptosis, CD36, corpus luteum, CRISPR/Cas9, luteal cell viability, progesterone, vWF.


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