FASN -Mediated Lipid Metabolism Regulates Goose Granulosa Cells Apoptosis and Steroidogenesis.

Lipid metabolism participates in regulating the functions of granulosa cells (GCs), which is important for follicular development. In this experiment, goose GCs from pre-hierarchical follicles and hierarchical follicles were selected to be the model for studying the putative regulatory role of lipid metabolism in apoptosis and steroidogenesis, through overexpression and interference with fatty acid synthase (FASN). WhenFASNwas overexpressed, the lipid accumulation was increased in hierarchical GCs (hGCs) and it was increased in the two categorized GCs whenFASNwas interfered. In addition, the apoptosis of the two categorized GCs was increased whenFASNwas overexpressed, and their progesterone production was decreased whenFASNwas interfered. The results of qRT-PCR showed that, whenFASNwas overexpressed, the expression level ofCYP11A1was decreased in pre-hierarchical GCs (phGCs), while the expression levels ofSCD1,DGAT2,APOB, andStARwere increased in hGCs. WhenFASNwas interfered, the expression levels ofCPT-1,DGAT2, andStARwere decreased whereas the expression level ofCYP11A1was increased in phGCs, and the expression levels ofCPT-1,SCD1, andStARwere decreased in hGCs. These results not only identify the different effects of manipulatedFASNexpression on lipid metabolism of goose phGCs and hGCs but also demonstrate thatFASN-mediated lipid metabolism plays an important role in regulating apoptosis and steroidogenesis ofin vitrocultured goose GCs.