Fedail Jaafar Sulieman, Zheng Kaizhi, Wei Quanwei, Kong Lingfa, Shi Fangxiong
Laboratory of Animal Reproduction, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China.
Endocrine. 2014 Aug;46(3):594-604. doi: 10.1007/s12020-013-0092-y. Epub 2013 Nov 20.
Thyroid hormones (TH) play a critical role in ovarian follicular development, maturation and the maintenance of various endocrine functions. However, whether TH can affect ovarian follicular development in neonatal and immature rats remains unclear. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to elucidate the effect of TH on ovarian follicular development in neonatal and immature rats. Thirty female post-lactation mothers of Sprague-Dawley rat pups were randomly divided into three groups: control, hyperthyroid (hyper), and hypothyroid (hypo). On postnatal days (PND) 10 and 21, body weights, serum hormones, ovarian histologic changes, and immunohistochemistry of thyroid hormone receptor alpha 1 (TRα1) and nitric oxide synthase types (NOS), and NOS activities, were determined. The data showed that body weights significantly decreased in both hyper and hypo groups compared with the control group (P < 0.05). In addition, the hyper group had increased serum concentrations of T3, T4, and E2; whereas the hypo group manifested reduced serum concentrations of T3, T4, and E2 on PND 10 and 21. The hyper and hypo groups showed significantly reduced total number of primordial, primary and secondary follicles on PND 10 and 21 compared with the control group (P < 0.05). Similarly, antral follicle numbers in the hyper and hypo groups were significantly decreased on PND 21 compared with the control group (P < 0.05). Immunostaining indicated that TRα1 and NOS were expressed in ovarian surface epithelium and oocytes of growing and antral follicles, with strong staining of the granulosa and theca cells of follicles. NOS activities were significantly augmented in the hyper, but diminished in the hypo groups on PND 10 and 21. In summary, our findings suggest that TH play important roles in ovarian functions and in the regulation of NOS activity. Our results also indicate that a relationship exists between the TH and NO signaling pathways during the process of ovarian follicular development in neonatal and immature rats.
甲状腺激素（TH）在卵巢卵泡发育、成熟以及维持各种内分泌功能方面发挥着关键作用。然而，TH是否会影响新生和未成熟大鼠的卵巢卵泡发育仍不清楚。因此，本研究的目的是阐明TH对新生和未成熟大鼠卵巢卵泡发育的影响。将30只Sprague-Dawley大鼠幼崽的哺乳期后母鼠随机分为三组：对照组、甲状腺功能亢进（甲亢）组和甲状腺功能减退（甲减）组。在出生后第10天和第21天，测定体重、血清激素、卵巢组织学变化、甲状腺激素受体α1（TRα1）和一氧化氮合酶类型（NOS）的免疫组化以及NOS活性。数据显示，与对照组相比，甲亢组和甲减组的体重均显著下降（P<0.05）。此外，甲亢组在出生后第10天和第21天血清T3、T4和E2浓度升高；而甲减组在出生后第10天和第21天血清T3、T4和E2浓度降低。与对照组相比，甲亢组和甲减组在出生后第10天和第21天的原始卵泡、初级卵泡和次级卵泡总数显著减少（P<0.05）。同样，与对照组相比，甲亢组和甲减组在出生后第21天的窦状卵泡数量显著减少（P<0.05）。免疫染色表明，TRα1和NOS在卵巢表面上皮以及生长卵泡和窦状卵泡的卵母细胞中表达，卵泡的颗粒细胞和膜细胞染色强烈。在出生后第10天和第21天，甲亢组的NOS活性显著增强，而甲减组则降低。总之，我们的研究结果表明，TH在卵巢功能以及NOS活性调节中发挥重要作用。我们的结果还表明，在新生和未成熟大鼠卵巢卵泡发育过程中，TH与NO信号通路之间存在关联。
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