Endocrine Abstracts

The origins and lineages of somatic cells in mammalian ovaries are poorly understood and not universally agreed upon. By clonally-isolating different phenotypes of bovine fetal stromal cells and conducting microarray analysis, we identified markers of different somatic cells. Antibodies to these markers, markers of other known cell types in fetal ovaries and to extracellular matrix were used to examine bovine ovaries (60–300 days of gestation, n=51) by immunohistoc...

Cytochrome P450 aromatase is a membrane bound enzyme that synthesises estrogens. This reaction involves electron delivery from NADPH via cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR). Little is known as to how the P450arom performs the aromatase reaction or how it associates with CPR in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In humans, there is only one P450arom, however pigs have three isozymes. The catalytic efficiency of one of these, the porcine gonadal P450arom, is much lower than the human a...