Department of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China.
Reprod Sci. 2021 May;28(5):1281-1289. doi: 10.1007/s43032-020-00331-2. Epub 2020 Oct 1.
A high level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is widely considered one of the major causes of oocyte quality decline. Peroxynitrite is known as a powerful oxidant, which could induce multiple physical diseases. Recently, emerging pieces of evidences indicate that melatonin effectively promotes the development of oocytes, although the specific work mechanism remains to be further clarified. In this study, it was shown that peroxynitrite increased the level of ROS in porcine oocytes, which induced the apoptosis of oocytes, thereby leading to the obstruction of spindle assembly, depolymerization of actin, and decrease of polar body expulsion. These negative effects contributed to the failure of meiosis and ultimately blocked the maturation of porcine oocytes. As expected, it was found that melatonin effectively removed the accumulated ROS in oocytes, preventing oocytes from peroxynitrite-induced oocyte maturation failure, which might provide a novel approach to improve female livestock reproduction and cure female infertility in clinical practice.
高水平的活性氧（ROS）被广泛认为是卵母细胞质量下降的主要原因之一。过氧亚硝酸盐是一种强大的氧化剂，可导致多种身体疾病。最近，越来越多的证据表明褪黑素能有效促进卵母细胞的发育，尽管其具体的工作机制仍有待进一步阐明。在这项研究中表明，过氧亚硝酸盐增加了猪卵母细胞中 ROS 的水平，诱导卵母细胞凋亡，从而导致纺锤体组装受阻、肌动蛋白解聚和极体排出减少。这些负面影响导致减数分裂失败，最终阻止了猪卵母细胞的成熟。正如预期的那样，研究发现褪黑素能有效清除卵母细胞中积累的 ROS，防止卵母细胞发生过氧亚硝酸盐诱导的卵母细胞成熟失败，这可能为改善雌性家畜繁殖和治疗临床上女性不孕提供一种新方法。
