College of Life Sciences, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China.
School of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong-Shandong University Joint Laboratory on Reproductive Genetics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong, China.
Biol Reprod. 2019 Feb 1;100(2):468-478. doi: 10.1093/biolre/ioy224.
The role of androgenic steroids on ovarian development has attracted much attention in recent years, but the molecular mechanism is still largely unknown. In this study, using zebrafish as a model, we found that the trace metal zinc mediates the action of androgen on oocyte maturation. The ovarian and serum testosterone is transiently stimulated by LH during oocyte maturation. Testosterone could mimic the action of LH on oocyte maturation, and its action appears to be independent of the classical nuclear androgen receptor. Consistent with a recent finding that a zinc transporter (Zip9) has been suggested as a novel androgen receptor, we found the labile zinc concentration could be induced by testosterone in the ovarian follicular cells, and zinc could mimic the action of testosterone on oocyte maturation and signaling. Moreover, the action of testosterone on oocyte maturation could be abolished by the chelation of zinc. Thus, the evidence supports the notion that zinc could mediate the action of androgen on oocyte maturation in zebrafish. This finding would shed light on understanding the role of androgen in ovary development and the molecular mechanism of oocyte maturation in fish.
近年来，雄激素类固醇对卵巢发育的作用引起了广泛关注，但分子机制在很大程度上仍不清楚。在这项研究中，我们以斑马鱼为模型，发现痕量金属锌介导了雄激素对卵母细胞成熟的作用。在卵母细胞成熟过程中，LH 会短暂地刺激卵巢和血清中的睾丸酮。睾丸酮可以模拟 LH 对卵母细胞成熟的作用，其作用似乎独立于经典的核雄激素受体。最近的一项发现表明，一种锌转运蛋白（Zip9）被认为是一种新型的雄激素受体，与这一发现一致，我们发现睾丸酮可以在卵巢滤泡细胞中诱导不稳定的锌浓度，并且锌可以模拟睾丸酮对卵母细胞成熟和信号转导的作用。此外，锌螯合可以消除睾丸酮对卵母细胞成熟的作用。因此，这一证据支持锌可以介导雄激素对斑马鱼卵母细胞成熟的作用的观点。这一发现将有助于理解雄激素在鱼类卵巢发育中的作用和卵母细胞成熟的分子机制。
