In vitro exposure of sheep ovarian tissue to the xenoestrogens zearalenone and enterolactone: Effects on preantral follicles

• Published in: Theriogenology Vol. 174; pp. 124 - 130
• Main Authors: Silva, I.P., Brito, D.C.C., Silva, T.E.S., Silva, R.F., Guedes, M.I.F., Silva, J.Y.G., Rodrigues, A.P.R., Santos, R.R., Figueiredo, J.R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 15.10.2021
• Subjects: Follicular development; Gene expression; In vitro culture; Mycoestrogen; Phytoestrogen; Phytoestrogen; Follicular development; Gene expression; In vitro culture; Mycoestrogen
• ISSN: 0093-691X; 1879-3231
• DOI: 10.1016/j.theriogenology.2021.08.025

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 1 μmol/L zearalenone (ZEN) and 1 μmol/L enterolactone (ENL), alone or in combination, on the survival and morphology of in vitro cultured ovarian preantral follicles. Ovaries from 10 sheep were collected at a local abattoir and fragmented, and the ovarian pieces were submitted to in vitro culture for 3 days in the presence or absence of the test compounds. The morphology of primordial and primary follicles was impaired by ZEN, whereas that of cultured secondary follicles was improved by ENL. However, the combination of ENL with ZEN impaired the quality of primary and secondary follicles. Both ZEN and ENL induced apoptosis, but only ZEN was responsible for oocyte autophagy. None of these xenoestrogens affected endoplasmic reticulum stress as observed by the unaltered expression of ERP29. Differently from ZEN, ENL increased the expression of the efflux transporter ABCG2. In conclusion, although ENL can counteract the negative effects of ZEN on primordial and primary follicles, this positive effect is not similar to that observed in ovarian tissue cultures in the presence of ENL alone. •The mammary lignin ENL decreased cell autophagy caused by ZEN.•Enterolactone counteracts the negative impact of ZEN on sheep ovarian primordial follicles.•However, ENL is not able to protect primary and secondary preantral follicles exposed to ZEN.