Expression of Smad4 protein and mRNA in different developmental stages of the rat ovary / 中国病理生理杂志

0.05). The staining intensity of Smad4 in follicles changed in relation with their development. Its expression in oocytes of antral and mature follicles was significantly decreased, as compared to that of preantral follicles (P0.05). The RT-PCR demonstrated that Smad4 mRNA was expressed in all developmental stages of the rat ovary, and from the 3rd week on, the expression of Smad4 mRNA was significant higher than that of the 1 day postnatal. CONCLUSION: The expression of protein and mRNA of Smad4 in the rat ovary indicate that TGF-?_s may regulate the folliculogenesis by Smad signal transduction model.