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Abstract
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disease accompanied by energetic metabolic imbalance. Because the etiology of PCOS is complex and remains unclear, there is no effective and specific treatment for PCOS. It is often accompanied by various metabolic disorders such as obesity, insulin resistances, and others. Activated brown adipose tissue (BAT) consumes excess energy via thermogenesis, which has positive effects on energy metabolism. Our previous research and that of others indicates that BAT activity is decreased in PCOS patients, and exogenous BAT transplantation can improve PCOS rodents. Notably however, it is difficult to apply this therapeutic strategy in clinical practice. Therapeutic strategies of enhancing endogenous BAT activity and restoring whole-body endocrine homeostasis may be more meaningful for PCOS treatment. In the current study, the dehydroepiandrosterone-induced PCOS rat was exposed to low temperature for 20 days. The results show that cold treatment could reverse acyclicity of the estrous cycle and reduce circulating testosterone and luteinizing hormone in PCOS rats by activating endogenous BAT. It also significantly reduced the expression of steroidogenic enzymes as well as inflammatory factors in the ovaries of PCOS rats. Histological investigations revealed that cold treatment could significantly reduce ovary cystic follicles and increase corpus luteum, indicating that ovulation was recovered to a normal level. Concordant with these results, cold treatment also improved fertility in PCOS rats. Collectively, these findings suggest that cold treatment could be a novel therapeutic strategy for PCOS.
Highlights
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common reproductive endocrine disorders affecting women of reproductive age [1, 2]
Increased adipocyte size identified via histological analysis was consistent with the reduction of multiple small lipid droplets in brown adipocytes of PCOS rats, indicating that DHEA triggered brown adipocyte hypertrophy
DHEA-induced brown adipose tissue (BAT) hypertrophy was significantly reversed. These results suggest that BAT was effectively activated by cold treatment (Figure 1A)
Summary
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common reproductive endocrine disorders affecting women of reproductive age [1, 2]. Depending on the diagnostic criteria used, the incidence rate of PCOS is 9%–18% in women of reproductive age [3,4,5]. PCOS is characterized by reproductive polycystic ovaries, hyperandrogenism and chronic anovulation [6,7,8] Cold Ameliorates PCOS heterogeneous and complex syndrome associated with dyslipidemia, obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases [9,10,11,12,13]. A variety of environmental and genetic factors may lead to the occurrence of PCOS [14, 15].the treatment strategy of PCOS is not clear [16]
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