Question

follicle-stimulating hormone is a pituitary hormone that acts on the follicle cells of the ovary to trigger the synthesis of cyclic AMP, which stimulates various metabolic changes. FSH normally has no effect on cardiac muscle cells. However, when ovarian follicle cells and cardiac muscle cells are grown together in mixed culture, a number of the cardiac muscle cells are seen to contract following addition of FSH to the medium. How might this observation be explained?

Answer 1

Answer:

Cells grown in culture tend to adhere to each other, through adhesins, so they are able to communicate with each other. They form gap junctions that allow the cytoplasm of the cells to exchange some molecules such as cyclic-AMP associated molecules in this case.

Therefore even though the FSH binds to the receptors on the ovarian follicle cells only (since these are the cells that bear the receptors for the hormone on their surface), the pathway and associated molecules for secondary messengers can diffuse across the across the gap junction into other cells, including those of the cardiac cells, hence inducing some contraction in these cells, as they respond to the secondary messengers.  

Learn More:

For more on secondary messengers check out;

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For more on gap junctions check out;

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