Cortisol은 난소내 다량으로 존재하며, 난소 세포에 그 수용체가 있는 것으로 보고되고 있다. 또한 사람의 과립 및 황체화 세포에서 cortisol은 스테로이드 생성과 세포 대사에 영향을 미치는 것으로 알려지고 있으나, 배란 후 난포액에 높은 농도로 존재하는 cortisol이 과립-황체화 세포에 어떤 영향을 미치는 지는 정확히 밝혀져 있지 않다. 따라서 본 실험에서 과배란 유도후 획득한 사람 과립-황체화 세포를 배양하면서 5, 50, cortisol

Cortisol is present in high concentration in the ovary and its receptor is expressed in the ovarian cells. Moreover, cortisol is known to have a role in steroid synthesis and cell metabolism in human granulosa and lutein cells. However, little is known of the role of cortisol presenting in high concentration in the follicles after LH surge on the granulosa-lutein cells. Therefore, the this study we evaluated the apoptosis and the production of progesterone and estradiol in the granulosa-lutein cells that are obtained during oocyte-retrieval after treatment with 5, 50, and cortisol and 1 IU/ FSH. Results of DNA fragment analysis and TUNEL assay demonstrated that DNA fragmentation and the rate of apoptotic cells were increased in a dose-dependent manner showing a significant increase in 50 and cortisol treated cells. We found, however, that FSH did not suppress the apoptosis of the cells induced by cortisol. In the results of chemiluminescence assay for and , production was decreased by cortisol treatment, whereas was not changed. We also demonstrated that FSH did not inhibit the suppressive effect of GnRH on production as the result of apoptosis. The present study suggests that cortisol of high concentration could cause the apoptosis of human granulosa-lutein cells by suppressing the production of . However, we need more studies to elucidate the mechanism by which cortisol induces apoptosis in human granulosa-lutein cells in view of the fact that our results are inconsistent with previous reported data.

• 김진희
• 양현원