The spatiotemporal expression pattern of the bone morphogenetic protein family in rat ovary cell types during the estrous cycle

Table 1 Cellular localization and relative intensity of mRNAs for BMPs in ovaries of adult cycling rats.

TISSUE	BMP-2	BMP-3	BMP-3b	BMP-4	BMP-6	BMP-7	BMP-15	BMPR-IA	BMPR-IB	BMPR-II	FS
Oocyte
Primordial	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	++/+	+/-	-
Primary	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	++	+++/++	+	-
Secondary	-	-	-	-	+++/+	-	++++/++	+++	++++	+/-	-
Tertiary	-	-	-	-	+++	-	++++	+++	+++	+/-	-
Dominant	-	-	-	-	+++	-	++++/+++	++	+++	+/-	-
Atretic	-	-	-	-	+++/++	-	++/+	+++/++	++	+/-	-
Granulosa Cells
Primordial	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+/-	+/-	-	-
Primary	+/-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	+/-	+	-
Secondary	++/-	-	-	-	+++/-	-	-	++/+	++++	+++/++	++
Tertiary	+++/-	-	-	-	+++/-	-	-	++	++++	+++	++++
Dominant	+++/-	-	-	-	+/-	-	-	++	++++	+++	++++
Atretic	++++	-	-	-	+++	-	-	++	++++	+++	+/-
Theca-interstitial cells
Primordial	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Primary	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Secondary	+/-	-	-	++/-	-	++/-	-	+	+	-	-
Tertiary	+/-	+/-	+	+++/-	-	+++/-	-	++/+	+	-	-
Dominant	+/-	+/-	++++/-	++++/-	-	+++/-	-	++/+	++	-	+/-
Atretic	+/-	-	+/-	+/-	-	+/-	-	+	+	-	-
Theca externa	-	-	++++/-	++++/-	-	-		+	++/-	-
Corpora lutea – Healthy
Granulosa Lutein	+/-	-	-	+/-	++/+	-	-	++/+	+	++	++++
Theca Lutein	+/-	+/-	+/-	+/-	-	++/-	-	++/+	+	+/-	+++
Vascular Endothelial	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+/-	+/-	-
Theca Externa	-	-	++/+	+++	-	-	-	+/-	++/+	-
Corpora lutea – Luteolytic	+++/-	+/-	-	++	+/-	-	-	+	+++/-	+/-	-/++++
Vascular System
Endothelium	-	-	-	+++	+++/-	-	-	+/-	-	+/-	-
Smooth Muscle	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	+/-	-	-	-
Tunica Adventitia	-	-	-	-		-	-	+/-	++	-	-
Secondary-interstitial cells	++/+	-	-	-	-	+/-	-	+	++/+	-	-/++++
Surface epithelium	-	-	+++/-	+++/-	+++	-	-	+/-	-	-	-
Sex Cords	-	-	++++	+++	-	+++	-	+	+++	+/-	-

The intensities of the hybridization signals indicated above represent a subjective consensus of all sections examined from all the ovaries collected from all of the animals over the estrous cycle (see Materials and Methods). The hybridization signals were estimated on a scale of - to 4+ as described in Materials and Methods. The slashes represent the variability in signal intensity that was observed for any given histological unit. The nature of this variability, whether it be temporal (cycle-dependent or developmental), or spatial (heterogeneity within or between the histological unit), is fully described in the Results section.

ISSN: 1477-7827