Oleic acid induces specific alterations in the morphology, gene expression and steroid hormone production of cultured bovine granulosa cells.

After parturition, one of the major problems related to nutritional management that is faced by the majority of dairy cows is negative energy balance (NEB). During NEB, excessive lipid mobilization takes place and hence the levels of free fatty acids, among them oleic acid, increase in the blood, but also in the follicular fluid. This accumulation can be associated with serious metabolic and reproductive disorders. In the present study, we analyzed the effects of physiological concentrations of oleic acid on cell morphology, apoptosis, necrosis, proliferation and steroid production, and on the abundance of selected transcripts in cultured bovine granulosa cells. Increasing oleic acid concentrations induced intracellular lipid droplet accumulation, thus resulting in a foam cell-like morphology, but had no effects on apoptosis, necrosis or proliferation. Oleic acid also significantly reduced the transcript abundance of the gonadotropin hormone receptors, FSHR and LHCGR, steroidogenic genes STAR, CYP11A1, HSD3B1 and CYP19A1, the cell cycle regulator CCND2, but not of the proliferation marker PCNA. In addition, treatment increased the transcript levels of the fatty acid transporters CD36 and SLC27A1, and decreased the production of 17-beta-estradiol and progesterone. From these data it can be concluded that oleic acid specifically affects morphological and physiological features and gene expression levels thus altering the functionality of granulosa cells. Suggestively, these effects might be partly due to the reduced expression of FSHR and thus the reduced responsiveness to FSH stimulation.