Abstract
Simple SummaryArachidonic acid (AA) is one of the polyunsaturated fatty acids that presents in a very high proportion in the mammalian follicular fluid. However, the mechanism of its effects on bovine ovarian granulosa cells is not clear. In the present study, we found that arachidonic acid plays an important role in regulating cell proliferation, lipid accumulation and steroidogenesis of granulosa cells. In this sense, arachidonic acid can directly affect the functionality of granulosa cells and therefore follicular development and ovulation, which could provide useful information for future studies relating to increasing fecundity of bovine.In the present study, AA was used to challenge bovine ovarian granulosa cells in vitro and the related parameters of cellular and molecular biology were measured. The results indicated that lower doses of AA increased survival of bovine granulosa cells whereas higher doses of AA suppressed survival. While lower doses of AA induced accumulation of lipid droplet in granulosa cells, the higher dose of AA inhibited lipid accumulation, and AA increased abundance of FABP3, CD36 and SLC27A1 mRNA. Higher doses of AA decreased the secretion of E2 and increased the secretion of P4 accompanied by down-regulation of the mRNA abundance of CYP19A1, FSHR, HSD3B1 and STAR in granulosa cells. The signaling pathways employed by AA in the stimulation of genes expression included both ERK1/2 and Akt. Together, AA specifically affects physiological features, gene expression levels and steroid hormone secretion, and thus altering the functionality of granulosa cells of cattle.
Highlights
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) play important roles as reservoirs of energy, as structural components of membranes and they are the precursors of steroid hormones [1]
During this work, we studied the impact of AA on cell survival and apoptosis, lipid absorption, steroid hormone secretion, gene expression and intracellular signaling pathways involved in the function of granulosa cells with a model of in vitro cell culture
It has been suggested that dietary PUFAs have a pivotal role in modulating follicular development, steroidogenesis [24,25], and the follicle might have a local lipid metabolism that modulates ovulation and subsequent fertility [4]
Summary
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) play important roles as reservoirs of energy, as structural components of membranes and they are the precursors of steroid hormones [1]. PUFAs play a critical role in maintaining membrane biogenesis, oocyte maturation and fertility in mammals [2,3]. Previous studies have demonstrated that AA was involved in the trophic hormone induced steroidogenesis [8,9]. Exogenous AA uptake resulted in activation of the COX pathway during ovulation, fertilization and embryogenesis [11,12]. It seems that AA is an essential fatty acid for follicular development, oocyte growth and fertility [6]
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