Gao Yang, Baharudin Fuziaton, Zhang Yunhai, Tan Kaixiang, Zhang Yongteng, Li Mengchan, Liang Zizheng, Wu Mengting, Zhang Mianqun, Zhang Dandan
School of Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
School of Biology and Food Engineering, Hefei Normal University, Hefei, 230061, China.
J Assist Reprod Genet. 2025 Jul 2. doi: 10.1007/s10815-025-03553-y.
Nano graphene oxide (nGO), as a type of engineered carbon nanomaterial, has witnessed significant growth in biomedical applications. Given the likelihood of accumulation of these materials in human tissues or organs, it becomes imperative to comprehensively assess the toxicological profile of nGO, particularly concerning female reproductive health.
Germinal vesicle (GV) porcine oocytes were cultured at 38.5 °C to the specific developmental stage for subsequent analysis. The nGO was diluted with the maturation medium to the final concentrations of 10, 50, 100 and 200 μg/ml, respectively. Immunostaining and fluorescence intensity quantification were applied to assess the effects of nGO exposure on the key processes during the oocyte meiotic maturation.
We observed that exposure to nGO led to compromised meiotic competency in porcine oocytes during in vitro culture. Specifically, nGO exposure resulted in reduced acetylation levels of α-tubulin and misattachment of kinetochore-microtubules, thereby disrupting spindle/chromosome organization and impeding meiotic progression. Furthermore, nGO exposure perturbed actin dynamics, potentially hindering spindle migration and cortical polarization during oocyte meiosis. Additionally, mislocalization and premature exocytosis of ovastacin were observed following nGO exposure. Notably, nGO exposure induced mitochondrial dysfunction, DNA damage, and oxidative stress, ultimately triggering apoptosis and impeding the maturation of porcine oocytes and the development of post-fertilized embryos.
Our findings underscore the potential deleterious effects of nGO on mammalian oocyte quality, while also contributing valuable insights into the impact of environmental nanoparticle release on female germ cell development.
纳米氧化石墨烯（nGO）作为一种工程碳纳米材料，在生物医学应用中已取得显著发展。鉴于这些材料有可能在人体组织或器官中蓄积，全面评估nGO的毒理学特征变得至关重要，尤其是涉及女性生殖健康方面。
将猪生发泡（GV）期卵母细胞在38.5°C培养至特定发育阶段，以便后续分析。将nGO用成熟培养基分别稀释至最终浓度10、50、100和200μg/ml。采用免疫染色和荧光强度定量分析来评估nGO暴露对卵母细胞减数分裂成熟关键过程的影响。
我们观察到，在体外培养过程中，nGO暴露导致猪卵母细胞减数分裂能力受损。具体而言，nGO暴露导致α-微管蛋白乙酰化水平降低以及动粒微管错配，从而破坏纺锤体/染色体组织并阻碍减数分裂进程。此外，nGO暴露扰乱肌动蛋白动力学，可能在卵母细胞减数分裂过程中阻碍纺锤体迁移和皮质极化。另外，nGO暴露后观察到卵母细胞激活素的定位错误和过早胞吐。值得注意的是，nGO暴露诱导线粒体功能障碍、DNA损伤和氧化应激，最终引发细胞凋亡并阻碍猪卵母细胞成熟及受精后胚胎发育。
我们的研究结果强调了nGO对哺乳动物卵母细胞质量的潜在有害影响，同时也为环境纳米颗粒释放对雌性生殖细胞发育的影响提供了有价值的见解。
