THYROID-HORMONE RECEPTOR MESSENGER-RIBONUCLEIC-ACID IN HUMAN GRANULOSA AND OVARIAN STROMAL CELLS

Objective: To examine whether mRNA for thyroid hormone receptors alpha and beta is present in human granulosa cells in nonstimulated ovaries . Design: Paraffin-embedded sections of ovaries from normally cycling women were analyzed by in situ hybridization with oligonucleotide prob es for thyroid hormone receptors alpha and beta. The sense strand olig onucleotide was used as a control for each of the probes. Results: Gra nulosa cells from the preovulatory antral follicles examined showed po sitive staining for both the thyroid hormone receptor alpha and beta p robes. Positive staining of ovarian stromal cells also was observed fo r both probes. Conclusion: Thyroid hormone receptor mRNAs are expresse d in both granulosa cells and ovarian stromal cells found in nonstimul ated ovaries. It is, therefore, conceivable that thyroid hormone may p lay a direct role in human ovarian physiology.