Proliferative and steroidogenic capabilities of rat granulosa cells of different sizes.

Equine chorionic gonadotrophin stimulates both rat granulosa cell mitoses and oestradiol secretion. However, the mitotic potential of oestradiol-secreting granulosa cells is not known. In the first study, granulosa cells of different sizes were isolated and their ability to secrete oestradiol and proliferate in vitro was determined. Granulosa cells were harvested from equine chorionic gonadotrophin-primed immature rats, separated on a 15-45% Percoll gradient, and collected in 12 fractions. An enriched population of small granulosa cells (44 +/- 1 micron2) was collected in fractions 3 and 4 and an enriched population of large granulosa cells (97 +/- 2 microns2) in fractions 6-8. When granulosa cells from each fraction were cultured for 24 h in the presence of testosterone, the large cells secreted 50% more oestradiol than did the small cells (P < 0.05). Aromatase was shown, by immunocytochemistry, to be expressed mainly by granulosa cells larger than 73 microns2, with the relative amount of aromatase expressed per cell increasing with increasing cell size. However, not all large granulosa cells expressed aromatase. To test proliferative capacity, cells from each fraction were cultured with testosterone and the mitogen, insulin. This study showed that only small cells were able to undergo insulin-induced mitosis. In a second study, follicles of different sizes were isolated from immature and equine chorionic gonadotrophin-primed immature rats and the granulosa cell size distribution determined for each follicle size. This study confirmed that equine chorionic gonadotrophin altered the size distribution from principally small mitotically competent cells to large oestradiol-secreting cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Transcervical tubal cannulation and salpingoscopy in the treatment of tubal infertility.

Transcervical tubal cannulation and salpingoscopy are two recent techniques used for the evaluation of tubal patency and pathology. Selective tubal cannulation cannot determine the nature of the obstructive process, although it does allow for the demonstration of potential tubal patency. This may be important in deciding whether therapies requiring tubal patency may be used in specific clinical situations. Because currently there are no controlled studies in the literature evaluating this technique, the therapeutic value of the procedure must be considered unproven at this time. Salpingoscopy gives more detailed information concerning the tubal mucosa. The identification of specific tubal lesions has been described with this modality. The predictive value of salpingoscopy in cases of severe anatomic distortion, ie, fibrous obliteration, seems obvious. However, its predictive value in the presence of more subtle lesions needs to be studied further because its role as a therapeutic modality is as yet undefined.