Time course analysis of dedifferentiation in porcine follicular granulosa cells

Cellular dedifferentiation signifies the withdrawal of cells from a specific differentiated state into a ‘stem cell’-like undifferentiated state. However, the mechanism of dedifferentiation remains obscure. We showed that follicular granulosa cells (GC), which have distinct functions in vivo, can dedifferentiate during culture in vitro and acquire multipotency. We investigated the dedifferentiation of GC using global gene expression analyses. Total RNA was isolated from GCs to DFOG cells at 5 time points during dedifferentiation (cultured in 0day, 1day, 2day, 4day and 7day). Each timepoint was performed in triplicate (ie, biological replicates). Using Affymetrix porcine genome array, we performed microarray time course experiments to analyze gene expression profiles during GC dedifferentiation.