Figure 2

Progesterone secretion by sheep granulosa cells. Granulosa cells from small antral follicles of 1–3 mm in diameter were cultured for 96 h in serum free media in the presence or absence of FSH (10ng/ml), in combination with varying concentrations of recombinant human BMP-2, BMP-4, BMP-6 (each from R&D Systems), BMP-15 [46] or rat GDF-9 [76]. Each combination of treatments was tested in triplicate in each of 4 independent experiments. Results represent progesterone secretion by 50,000 granulosa cells between 48 h and 96 h of culture. Data are expressed as percentages (mean ± SEM) of the amount of progesterone secreted by cells cultured in control condition. Different letters denote significant difference (p < 0.05).