The effect of pathogen-associated molecular patterns on the swine granulosa cells

Recent studies have demonstrated the surprising ability of reproductive endocrine cells to express receptors of innate immunity useful to sense danger in order to avoid disruption of tissue homeostasis. Present research demonstrates the presence of pattern recognition receptors, i.e. toll like receptors (TLR) TLR2, TLR4 and TLR 5 and NOD like receptors (NLR) NOD1 and NOD2 in swine granulosa cells from ovarian follicles> 5 mm. Therefore, our second goal was to expose granulosa cells to different concentrations (1000, 100 and 10 ng/ml) of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and N-Palmitoyl-S-[2,3-bis(palmitoyloxy)-(2RS)- propyl]-[R]-cysteinyl-[S]-seryl-[S]-lysyl-[S]-lysyl-[S]-lysyl-[S]- lysine (Pam3CSK4), two substances associated with pathogen molecular patterns. Their potential effects on the main functional parameters were monitored: proliferation (through the incorporation of Bromo-deoxy-Uridine), cell viability (by testing the metabolization of MTT salt), steroidogenic activity (by immunoenzymatic examination) and redox status (evaluating the production of superoxide anion by means of the WST test, production of nitric oxide through the use of the Griess test, and the non-enzymatic reducing power, by FRAP test). The data collected show a significant inhibition (p