α-Solanine impairs oocyte maturation and quality by inducing autophagy and apoptosis and changing histone modifications in a pig model

• Published in: Reproductive toxicology (Elmsford, N.Y.) Vol. 75; pp. 96 - 109
• Main Authors: Lin, Tao, Oqani, Reza K., Lee, Jae Eun, Kang, Jeong Won, Kim, So Yeon, Cho, Eun Seok, Jeong, Yong Dae, Baek, Jun Jong, Jin, Dong Il
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.01.2018
• Subjects: Apoptosis; Autophagy; Histone modifications; Oocyte maturation; α-Solanine; α-Solanine; Histone modifications; Autophagy; Oocyte maturation; Apoptosis; apoptosis; autophagy; histone modifications; oocyte maturation
• ISSN: 0890-6238; 1873-1708
• DOI: 10.1016/j.reprotox.2017.12.005

•During porcine IVM system, α-solanine disturbed meiotic resumption, induced morphological changes and death of oocytes.•α-solanine increased the rates of abnormal spindle formation and cortical granule distribution.•α-solanine triggered autophagy, apoptosis and ROS generation in pig oocytes.•α-solanine changed the levels of H3K36me3 and H3K27me3 in pig oocytes.•α-solanine exposure during IVM reduced the subsequent embryonic development and quality. In this study, we used a pig model to investigate the effects of α-solanine (a natural toxin found mainly in potato sprouts) on oocyte maturation, quality and subsequent embryonic development. We found that α-solanine (10 μM) disturbed meiotic resumption and increased abnormal spindle formation and altered the cortical granule (CG) distribution compared with the untreated group. α-Solanine triggered autophagy and apoptosis by increasing the expressions of autophagy-related genes (LC3, ATG7, and LAMP2) and apoptotic related genes (BAX and CASP3). Exposure of porcine oocytes to α-solanine significantly increased the levels of H3K36me3 and H3K27me3. Moreover, α-solanine significantly reduced the cleavage and blastocyst formation rates, decreased the total and inner cell mass cells numbers, and increased apoptosis in these porcine embryos. Taken together, our data indicate that α-solanine toxically impairs oocyte maturation and quality by triggering autophagy/apoptosis and facilitating epigenetic modifications. Furthermore, α-solanine suppressed subsequent embryonic development and reduced embryo quality.