A local oxytocin system is part of the luteinization process in the preovulatory follicle of the marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus)

Luteinization is a complex differentiation process involving the interaction of extrinsic and intraovarian factors. The aim of this study was to examine the components of an intraovarian oxytocin (OT) system during the periovulatory period in the marmoset monkey, as well as the possible relationship of these components to other factors involved in the luteinization process, using immunohistochemistry and cell culture techniques. Ovaries were collected on Day 7 of the follicular phase (before the endogenous LH surge) and on Day 8 (22 h after an exogenous hCG application, but before ovulation). Before the endogenous LH increase, OT immunoreactivity was detectable at low levels in most antral follicles where its presence was confined to antral granulosa cell (CC) layers. In contrast, immunoreactivity for the OT receptor (OTR) was localized primarily in the basal CC layer. After application of exogenous hCG, there was a marked enhancement in both the staining intensity and the number of cells positive for OT and the OTR in all GC layers of antral follicles, especially in the preovulatory follicle. Progesterone receptor and 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity in CC were clearly present only when follicles were obtained after gonadotropin stimulation. Secretion of authentic OT was demonstrated from cultured CC obtained before the LH surge, with highest amounts in cells cultured from preovulatory as opposed to smaller antral follicles. OT production could be stimulated by the application of hCG to the CC cultured from preovulatory follicles, whereas the gonadotropin was without effect on CC from small follicles. FSH had no effect on OT production by CC from either follicle type. Application of OT to the cultures caused an increase in progesterone production by CC from large preovulatory follicles but was without effect on steroidogenesis by cells from small antral follicles. These results describing the presence and distribution of OT and OTR and their modulation by hCG, as well as the luteotrophic effect of OT in cultured CC from preovulatory follicles, implicate OT as a paracrine mediator in the luteinization process in the primate ovary.