Vol. 8, Issue 12 (2019)

Author(s):
Bijna M, Karthiayini K, Sreekumar TR, Beena V, Safeer M Saifudeen and Supriya Raj

Abstract:
The study was conducted to investigate the expression profile of IGF-1 and IGFR-1 in granulosa cells and its relation with size of goat ovarian follicles, to detect the IGF-1 protein localization in granulosa cells and also to assess the gonadal steroid status in the follicular fluid. The ovaries of healthy cycling Malabari goats were collected and preserved. The follicular fluid from selected follicles of two groups; group I (medium-3-5mm) and group II (large->5mm) was separately aspirated. Follicular fluid (FF) pooled from seven follicles of same size were considered as one sample and six such samples of each group was used for the study. RT-PCR analysis demonstrated a significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) in the expression levels of IGF-1 and IGFR-1 between granulosa cells from group-I and group-II follicles. The follicular fluid progesterone and oestrogen concentrations were significantly (p≤0.05) higher in the larger follicles. The immunohistochemistry of ovarian sections showed a positive immunoreaction for IGF-1 protein in granulosa cells of antral follicles. In the present study an increase in the expression of IGF-1 and IGFR-1 along with the increase in follicular fluid oestrogen concentration with the progression of follicular size indicate the role of IGF-1 and oestrogen in follicular development in caprines.