The effect of mifepristone on apoptosis and caspase-3 activation in human ovarian luteinized granulosa cells
Received 24 May 2007; received in revised form 17 April 2008; accepted 4 July 2008. published online 29 August 2008.
Abstract
Objective
To investigate the effect of mifepristone, an oral contraceptive, on apoptosis in human ovarian luteinized granulosa cells.
Study design
Human ovarian luteinized granulosa cells were treated in vitro with 1.25, 2.5, 5.0, 10.0, or 20.0μM of mifepristone. Nuclear morphology, apoptosis ratio, and level of caspase-3 expression were determined with immunofluorescence microscopy, the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay, and flow cytometry.
Results
We found that mifepristone-treated cells contained single condensed chromatin with multiple nuclear fragments, which is morphologic evidence of apoptosis. A significant difference was observed in the TUNEL assay between mifepristone-treated cells and control cells (P<0.05). Consistent with the results of the TUNEL assay, the fluorescence intensity of caspase-3 in drug-treated cells was also significantly different (P<0.05) from control cells; specifically, the difference between cells treated with different doses of drugs was much smaller and negligible.
Conclusion
From these results, we propose that mifepristone induces human ovarian luteinized granulosa cells to undergo apoptosis by activating caspase-3.
ABSTRACT