Abstract:

Objective To investigate the role of hepatocyte growth factor and its receptor （c-Met） （HGF/c-Met） signaling pathway in early follicular development in mice via detecting the expression of HGF/c-Met in early mouse ovarian tissue and then analyze the biological process of HGF/c-Met signaling pathway and its possible involvement in intracellular signaling pathways by using bioinformatics for the purpose of further studying the molecular mechanism of the signaling pathway in the early follicle development. Methods Thirty-five female Kunming mice and 15 male ones were fed in 15 cages with the female-to-male ratio of 2∶1. The ovaries of mice at 3， 7， 14 and 21 days after birth were collected. Immunohistochemical staining and Western blotting were applied to detect the expression levels of HGF and c-Met protein in the ovarian tissues. Quantitative Real-time PCR （q-PCR） was used to detect the expression levels of HGF and C-Met mRNA in the early ovarian tissues of mice. Results HGF and c-Met proteins were expressed in the ovarian tissues of the mice at 3， 7， 14 and 21 days， presenting an increasing trend with the increase of age by day （P < 0.05）. The mRNA levels of HGF and c-Met also showed the same trend （P < 0.05）. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that the HGF/c-Met signaling pathway involved in a variety of biological processes and signaling pathways such as PI3K/AKT. Conclusions HGF/c-Met signaling pathway is involved in early follicular development in mice. It may regulate primal follicular initiation and follicular development through intracellular signaling pathway PI3K/AKT.

Key words: HGF, c-Met, early follicular development