Hormonally induced cell shape changes in cultured rat ovarian granulosa cells.

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Abstract
Cultured rat ovarian granulosa cells undergo a dramatic morphological change when exposed to follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). Exposure to FSH caused the flattened epithelioid granulosa cells to assume a nearly spherical shape while retaining cytoplasmic processes which contact the substrate as well as adjacent cells. This effect of FSH was preceded by a dose-dependent increase in intracellular c[cyclic]AMP, was potentiated by cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase inhibitors and was mimicked by dibutyryl cAMP. Prostaglandins E1 or E2 and cholera enterotoxin also caused the cells to change shape. A subpopulation of the cells responded to luteinizing hormone. These morphological changes, which were blocked by 2,4-dinitrophenol, resemble those produced by treating cultures with cytochalasin B. EM showed that the unstimulated, flattened cells contain bundles of microfilaments particularly in the cortical and basal regions. After FSH stimulation, microfilament bundles were not found in the rounded granulosa cell bodies but they were present in the thin cytoplasmic processes. The morphological change apparently results from a cAMP-mediated, energy-dependent mechanism that may involve the alteration of microfilaents in these cells.