31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) identification of sugar phosphates in isolated rat ovarian follicular granulosa cells and the effects of follicle-stimulating hormone.

Immature female rats (23-30 days old) were implanted subcutaneously with diethylstilbestrol (DES) in silastic capsules. After 48 h their ovaries were removed and the granulosa cells isolated (Foreman et al. (1984) Life Sci. 35, 1273-1279). The cells were incubated in Hepes balanced saline buffer with substrates with or without follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). At the end of incubation perchloric acid extracts were made for 31P NMR spectroscopy. The resonances of fructose 1-phosphate, fructose 6-phosphate, glucose 1-phosphate, and ribose 5-phosphate were identified in the granulosa cell extracts. The relative intensities of fructose 6-phosphate to ribose 5-phosphate decreased after incubation with FSH in vitro. This suggests that FSH increases the activity of the pentose pathway within 1 h. Thus, FSH can acutely activate those metabolic pathways which provide nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) to be used in steroid synthesis and cholesterol mobilization.