Stimulatory effects of vasopressin on progesterone production and BMP signaling by ovarian granulosa cells

The aim of the present study was to clarify the effects of arginine vasopressin (AVP) on ovarian steroid production and its functional relationship to the ovarian bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) system. The results showed that AVP treatment significantly increased gonadotropin-and forskolin-induced pro-gesterone synthesis by primary culture of rat granulosa cells and human granulosa cells, respectively. In contrast, estradiol production was not significantly affected by AVP. Treatment with AVP significantly increased forskolin-induced cAMP synthesis by human granulosa cells and mRNA levels of the proges-terogenic enzymes CYP11A1 and HSD3B2 in the cells. On the other hand, AVP also enhanced BMP-15-induced phosphorylation of SMAD1/5/9 and ID1 transcription. It was further revealed that the expres-sion levels of BMP receptors, including ALK3, ALK6 and BMPR2, were upregulated by AVP. Collectively, the results indicate that AVP stimulates progesterone production via the cAMP-PKA pathway with upregu-lation of BMP signaling that inhibits progesterone production, which may lead to fine adjustment of progesterone biosynthesis by granulosa cells.(c) 2023 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Automated summary

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of AVP on ovarian steroid production and its relationship with the BMP system in the ovaries. The results showed that AVP treatment increased progesterone synthesis in rat granulosa cells and human granulosa cells, but did not significantly affect estradiol production. AVP also enhanced cAMP synthesis and the expression of progestogenic enzymes in human granulosa cells, and upregulated BMP signaling and receptors. These findings suggest that AVP stimulates progesterone production and fine-tunes its biosynthesis through the activation of the cAMP-PKA pathway and upregulation of BMP signaling.