Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary daidzein supplementation on reproductive performance in rats. A total of twenty-four female Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats were randomly allocated to two groups and fed either with a basal diet (CON) or basal diet containing 50 mg/kg daidzein (DAI) from gestation until delivery stage. The results show that daidzein supplementation significantly increased the total litter weight and the total viable newborn weight (p < 0.05). Interestingly, daidzein supplementation acutely elevated the concentrations of serum estrogen, progesterone and insulin-like growth factor-1 (p < 0.01) after the maternal rats’ delivery. The concentrations of serum immunoglobulin A (IgA) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) were also significantly higher in the DAI maternal rats than in the CON maternal rats (p < 0.05). Moreover, daidzein significantly increased the total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) in maternal rats’ sera and in newborns (p < 0.05) and elevated the concentration of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in both the maternal rats’ sera and their ovaries (p < 0.05). Importantly, daidzein supplementation significantly elevated the expression levels of estrogen receptor β (ERβ) and NR5A2 genes in maternal rats’ ovaries (p < 0.05) and downregulated the expression level of prolactin receptor (PRLR) in newborns (p < 0.05). These results suggest that dietary daidzein supplementation improves reproductive performance and fetal development in rats, which is associated with changes in serum hormones, tissue antioxidant capacity, and expression levels of reproductive-related genes, both in maternal rats and their offspring.
Highlights
Daidzein is a kind of natural isoflavonic phytoestrogen with estrogenic activity, and its activity is about 10–3 –10–5 times that of 17 β-estradiol [1]
The ANCOVA results showed that, after the control of the litter size was used as a covariate, daidzein supplementation had no effect on individual newborn weight (p = 0.769)
Since the maternal rats were fed the experimental diet after mating, the effects of the experimental diet on ovulation in maternal rats were excluded; daidzein supplementation probably reduces the reabsorption of embryos during embryonic development to increase the number of newborns
Summary
Daidzein is a kind of natural isoflavonic phytoestrogen with estrogenic activity, and its activity is about 10–3 –10–5 times that of 17 β-estradiol [1]. Daidzein is isolated mainly from natural products, such as beans, pasture grasses and cereals. Due to the characteristics of the estrogenic activity of daidzein, it can directly bind to the estrogen receptors to varying degrees and regulate the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis of the neuroendocrine system of animals [2]. Previous studies have indicated that daidzein has beneficial effects on animal growth and health [3]. As a dietary component, daidzein has received much attention due to its potential effects on animal fertility, and the supplementation of daidzein to animals during pregnancy has been extensively studied. Research has demonstrated that sows supplemented with
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