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Melatonin protects oogenesis from hypobaric hypoxia-induced fertility damage in mice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2024

Ruina Zhang Open the ORCID record for Ruina Zhang [Opens in a new window] ,
Cong Liu ,
Daolun Yu ,
Deyong She ,
Yan Yu ,
Yongping Cai  and
Naifu Chen
Ruina Zhang
Affiliation:
School of Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering West Anhui University, Lu’an, 237012, China Anhui Engineering Laboratory for Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Traditional Chinese Medicine Resources, West Anhui University, Lu’an, 237012, China
Cong Liu
Affiliation:
Center for Reproductive Medicine Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430000, China
Daolun Yu
Affiliation:
School of Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering West Anhui University, Lu’an, 237012, China
Deyong She
Affiliation:
School of Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering West Anhui University, Lu’an, 237012, China
Yan Yu
Affiliation:
School of Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering West Anhui University, Lu’an, 237012, China
Yongping Cai*
Affiliation:
College of Life Science, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230000, China
Naifu Chen*
Affiliation:
School of Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering West Anhui University, Lu’an, 237012, China Anhui Engineering Laboratory for Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Traditional Chinese Medicine Resources, West Anhui University, Lu’an, 237012, China
*
Corresponding authors: Yongping Cai; Email: swkx12@ahau.edu.cn; Naifu Chen; Email: cnf505@126.com
Corresponding authors: Yongping Cai; Email: swkx12@ahau.edu.cn; Naifu Chen; Email: cnf505@126.com
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Summary

Environmental hypoxia adversely affects reproductive health in humans and animals at high altitudes. Therefore, how to alleviate the follicle development disorder caused by hypoxia exposure and to improve the competence of fertility in plateau non-habituated female animals are important problems to be solved urgently. In this study, a hypobaric hypoxic chamber was used for 4 weeks to simulate hypoxic conditions in female mice, and the effects of hypoxia on follicle development, proliferation and apoptosis of granulosa cells, reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in MII oocyte and 2-cell rate were evaluated. At the same time, the alleviating effect of melatonin on hypoxic exposure-induced oogenesis damage was evaluated by feeding appropriate amounts of melatonin daily under hypoxia for 4 weeks. The results showed that hypoxia exposure significantly increased the proportion of antral follicles in the ovary, the number of proliferation and apoptosis granulosa cells in the follicle, and the level of ROS in MII oocytes, eventually led to the decline of oocyte quality. However, these defects were alleviated when melatonin was fed under hypoxia conditions. Together, these findings suggest that hypoxia exposure impaired follicular development and reduced oocyte quality, and that melatonin supplementation alleviated the fertility reduction induced by hypoxia exposure.

Keywords

Fertility damageFollicle developmentGranulosa cells apoptosisHypoxia exposureMelatonin
Type
Research Article
Information
Zygote , First View , pp. 1 - 9
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

*

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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