Effect of formaldehyde on expressions of Fas apoptosis pathway-related genes of ovary tissues in female rats

Abstract

To explore the mechanism of formaldehyde inducing ovarian toxicity in female rats by observing the effect of formaldehyde on the expression of Fas and caspase-8 mRNA, and the activity of caspase-3 and caspase-8 of ovary tissues in female rats. Forty female Sprague-Dawley(SD) rats were randomly divided into a control group and 3 formaldehyde groups at different concentrations. The rats in the formaldehyde groups were intraperitoneally injected different doses of formaldehyde (20.0,2.0 and 0.2 mg/kg) continuously for 14 days.After 14 days, all rats were sacrificed and their ovaries were collected for detecting the expression of Fas and caspase-8 mRNA with RT-PCR, the protein expression of Fas with Western blot, and the activities of caspase-8 and caspase-3 with spectrophotometric method. Compared with the control group, the expression of Fas mRNA and its protein and caspase-8 mRNA and the activity of caspase-8 and caspase-3 of ovary tissues in the rats treated with formaldehyde significantly increased with dose (P<0.05). The increase of Fas gene expression and the activity of caspase-8 and caspase-3 may be the important mechanism of ovarian toxicity induced by formaldehyde in female rats.