School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430072, China.
State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Environ Int. 2022 Sep;167:107418. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2022.107418. Epub 2022 Jul 16.
The aging process leads to the gradual impairment of physiological functions in the elderly, making them more susceptible to the toxicity of environmental pollutants. In this study, aged zebrafish were first transplanted with the feces from young donors and subsequently exposed to perfluorobutanesulfonate (PFBS), an emerging persistent toxic pollutant. The interaction between young fecal transplant and PFBS inherent toxicity was investigated, focusing on reproductive performance and the underlying endocrine mechanism. The results showed that PFBS single exposure increased the percentage of primary oocytes in aged ovaries, implying a blockage of oogenesis. However, transplantation of young feces completely abolished the effects of PFBS and promoted oocyte growth, as inferred by the obviously lower percentage of primary oocytes, accompanied by a higher percentage of cortical-alveolar oocytes. Measurement of sex hormones found that PFBS significantly increased the blood concentration of estradiol and disrupted the balance of sex hormones in the elderly, which were, however, efficiently ameliorated by young fecal transplantation. Based on gene transcription along the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, hierarchical clustering analysis showed similar profiles of the reproductive endocrine system between young zebrafish and their aged counterparts transplanted with young feces, implying that young fecal transplantation might refresh the endocrine system of aged recipients, regardless of PFBS exposure. The increased transcription levels of mRNAs encoding vitellogenin, activinBA, and membrane bound progestin receptors would cooperatively enhance the growth and maturation of oocytes in the ovaries of aged zebrafish receiving young fecal transplantation. Overall, the findings highlighted the potent efficacy of young fecal transplantation to improve the reproductive function of the elderly and to mitigate the endocrine disruption of an environmental pollutant. These findings are expected to broaden our understanding of the efficacy, mechanisms, and application of fecal transplantation.
衰老过程导致老年人的生理功能逐渐受损，使他们更容易受到环境污染物毒性的影响。在这项研究中，首先将年老的斑马鱼移植了来自年轻供体的粪便，然后让它们接触全氟丁烷磺酸（PFBS），一种新兴的持久性有毒污染物。研究了年轻粪便移植和 PFBS 固有毒性之间的相互作用，重点研究了生殖性能和潜在的内分泌机制。结果表明，PFBS 单一暴露会增加年老卵巢中初级卵母细胞的比例，这意味着卵发生受阻。然而，年轻粪便的移植完全消除了 PFBS 的作用，并促进了卵母细胞的生长，这可以从初级卵母细胞的比例明显降低推断出来，同时皮质-肺泡卵母细胞的比例更高。对性激素的测量发现，PFBS 显著增加了雌二醇在血液中的浓度，并破坏了老年人性激素的平衡，但这一平衡被年轻粪便的移植有效地改善了。基于下丘脑-垂体-性腺轴上的基因转录，层次聚类分析显示，年轻斑马鱼及其接受年轻粪便移植的年老对应物的生殖内分泌系统具有相似的特征，这表明年轻粪便移植可能会使年老受者的内分泌系统焕然一新，而不受 PFBS 暴露的影响。编码卵黄蛋白原、激活素 BA 和膜结合孕激素受体的 mRNAs 的转录水平增加，将协同增强接受年轻粪便移植的年老斑马鱼卵巢中卵母细胞的生长和成熟。总的来说，这些发现强调了年轻粪便移植改善老年人生殖功能和减轻环境污染物内分泌干扰的强大功效。这些发现有望拓宽我们对粪便移植的功效、机制和应用的理解。
