Intercellular signaling via cyclic GMP diffusion through gap junctions restarts meiosis in mouse ovarian follicles
Abstract
By imaging cyclic GMP (cGMP) in live ovarian follicles from mice, we show how luteinizing hormone signaling in the follicle periphery results in a rapid decrease in cGMP in the oocyte, thus reinitiating meiosis. Luteinizing hormone signaling lowers cGMP in the outer cells of the follicle, then cGMP in the oocyte decreases as a consequence of diffusion through gap junctions. These findings demonstrate directly that a physiological signal initiated by a stimulus in one region of an intact tissue can travel across many layers of cells via cyclic nucleotide diffusion through gap junctions.
- Publication:
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- April 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1423598112
- Bibcode:
- 2015PNAS..112.5527S