본 연구에서는 자연세포사 (apoptosis)를 유발시키는 것으로 알려진 ceramide를 배양중인 생쥐 과립세포에 처리한 뒤 형광염색, in-situ 3'-end labeling(ISEL), 그리고 flow cytometry 기법을 이용하여, 자연세포사 및 세포주기에 미치는 ceramide의 영향을 조사하였다. Ceramide를 처리하지 않은 대조군에 비하여, ceramide를 처리한 실험군에서 세로의 생존율은 농도에 비레하여 유의하게 감소하였다. 또

In mammalian ovary, major portion(>99%) of ovarian follicles undergo atresia. Recent studies have shown that this phenomenon is mediated via GC apoptosis. Ceramide, a product of sphingomyelin hydrolysis, has been proposed as a novel lipid second messenger with specific roles in mediating antiproliferative responses including apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. In the present study, we have examined the effect of ceramide on apoptotic cell death of GC in vitro. GCs were harvested by squeezing the antral follicles from the immature mice (3-4 weeks) and cultured in MEM medium with 10% fetal bovine serum. The cells were treated with various concentrations of ceramide (0 to 50 μM)and cultured up to 24 h.Cell death was determined by MTT cell viability assay and apoptosis was examined by acridine orange staining, in situ 3'-end labeling(TUNEL), and flow cytometry. Ceramid treatment induced apoptotic cell death of GC in a time- and a dose-dependent manner. Results of flow cytometric analysis showed that creamide-induced cell death was mostly confined to the G0/G1 cells. these results provide an evidence for ceramide as a lipid second messenger of apoptosis in mouse GC.

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