Primary human ovarian interstitial cells contribute to murine follicle growth through follicle-interstitial paracrine crosstalk

Primary human ovarian interstitial cells contribute to murine follicle growth through follicle-interstitial paracrine crosstalk | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Primary human ovarian interstitial cells contribute to murine follicle growth through follicle-interstitial paracrine crosstalk Monica M. Laronda, Elizabeth Tsui, Diane Saunders, Lina Lu, Tara Kennedy, and 6 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7593401/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Paracrine signaling is critical for ovarian development and maintenance of non-growing, gonadotropin-independent follicles. During puberty the human ovary develops defined compartments as gonadotropin signaling triggers follicle activation and maturation. Adjacent follicles utilize paracrine signaling but also benefit from nearby interstitial cell populations. Here, we characterized human ovarian interstitial cells and their effects on follicle growth through a cross-species culture assay. Both prepubertal and postpubertal primary ovarian interstitial populations improved follicle growth, and postpubertal cells conferred a significant increase in follicle estradiol production but not maturation rates. In one cohort, interstitial cell-conditioned media was not sufficient for the growth advantage observed with co-culture. To investigate how follicle-interstitial cell crosstalk changes during puberty, single-cell RNA-sequencing was performed on 11 ovarian tissue cryopreservation samples (participants 0.34-22.8 years). Results confirmed the presence of heterogenous interstitial cell populations previously identified in the adult ovary, including abundant theca/stromal cells expressing genes enriched for ECM-related processes. Finally, over 100 proteins were identified in co-culture media using bottom-up proteomics representing the human ovarian interstitial secretome. This study uniquely characterized human ovarian interstitial cells across the pubertal transition and advances our understanding of the human pediatric and adolescent ovarian follicular microenvironment. Biological sciences/Physiology/Reproductive biology Health sciences/Endocrinology Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files TsuiSupplementaltables.zip Supplemental tables not included in PDF TsuiSupplementalmaterial.pdf Supplemental figures and tables Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7593401","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":515788983,"identity":"f6bd4aca-a8fc-47a7-b6a1-40d75ee5ced9","order_by":0,"name":"Monica M. 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