The role of exogenous calcium for gonadotropin-stimulated progesterone production by human granulosa-luteal cells

Fertility and Sterility
H L LeeJ R Schreiber

Abstract

Previous studies of cells from various species have indicated that exogenous calcium is necessary for gonadotropic stimulation of steroidogenesis. To determine whether this requirement for exogenous calcium is a universal attribute of steroidogenic cells, we studied baseline and stimulated progesterone (P) production by cultured human granulosaluteal cells obtained at the time of oocyte retrieval for in vitro fertilization (IVF). During 4 hours in culture, both cholera toxin (1.25 micrograms/mL) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG, 1 IU/mL) stimulated a significant (P less than 0.05) 2- to 4-times increase in P production. Both baseline and stimulated (cholera toxin or hCG) increases in P were unaffected when cellular uptake of exogenous calcium was inhibited by the calcium channel blocker nitrendipine (10 microM), or by culturing the cells in calcium-free medium or in calcium-free medium with [ethylenebis(oxyethylenenitrilo)]-tetra-acetic acid (EGTA, to chelate any possible free extracellular calcium). At later time points (24 and 48 hours), lack of available exogenous calcium began to have an inhibitory effect on P production, and the hCG effect was more sensitive to the lack of exogenous calcium than was the cholera toxin ...Continue Reading

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