Long-term apoptosis-related protein expression in the diabetic mouse ovary

PLoS One. 2018 Sep 7;13(9):e0203268. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0203268. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Emerging evidence has shown that oocytes from diabetic ovaries exhibit delayed maturation, mitochondrial dysfunction and meiotic defects, which are related increased apoptosis. The main objective of the present study was to analyze the apoptosis pathways activated during follicular loss at multiple time points in a diabetic mouse model. Twenty BALB/c mice were used in this study, and diabetes mellitus was induced by streptozotocin injection. Three diabetic and two control animals were sacrificed on days 15, 20, 70 and 80 posttreatment. The ovaries were then removed; one was used for follicular counting, TUNEL, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence, while the other was used for Western blot analysis. The proteins studied were BAX, BCL2, t-BID, FAS, FASL, active caspase 8, active caspase 9 and active caspase 3. Follicular apoptosis decreased over time, with the highest values observed at 15 days posttreatment. Granulosa cells were positive for active caspase 3, which showed constant expression levels at all time points. FAS, FASL, t-BID and active caspase 8 showed strong cytoplasmic immunostaining in the oocytes and granulosa cells of the diabetic mice, with significant increases observed at 15, 20 and 70 days posttreatment. BAX expression was slightly higher in the diabetic mouse ovaries than in the control ovaries at 15, 20 and 70 days posttreatment, whereas the highest active caspase 9 expression was at observed 20 days posttreatment. Low BCL2 protein levels were detected in the diabetic mouse ovaries at all time points. This study describes for the first time the behavior of apoptosis-related proteins in the diabetic mouse ovary and shows not only that the FAS/FASL pathway contributes to follicular loss but also that antral follicles are the most affected.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Apoptosis / physiology
  • Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins / metabolism*
  • BH3 Interacting Domain Death Agonist Protein / metabolism
  • Caspase 3 / metabolism
  • Caspase 8 / metabolism
  • Caspase 9 / metabolism
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / metabolism*
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / pathology
  • Fas Ligand Protein / metabolism
  • Female
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Ovarian Follicle / metabolism
  • Ovarian Follicle / pathology
  • Ovary / metabolism*
  • Ovary / pathology
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / metabolism
  • Time Factors
  • bcl-2-Associated X Protein / metabolism
  • fas Receptor / metabolism

Substances

  • Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins
  • BH3 Interacting Domain Death Agonist Protein
  • Bax protein, mouse
  • Bid protein, mouse
  • Fas Ligand Protein
  • Fas protein, mouse
  • Fasl protein, mouse
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2
  • bcl-2-Associated X Protein
  • fas Receptor
  • Bcl2 protein, mouse
  • Casp3 protein, mouse
  • Casp8 protein, mouse
  • Casp9 protein, mouse
  • Caspase 3
  • Caspase 8
  • Caspase 9

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Fundación Cientifica Felipe Fiorellino - Universidad Maimónides, Buenos Aires, Argentina. NAF is a recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Research Council, CONICET-Argentina. AMA is a doctoral fellow from Universidad Maimónides. MAB, KVC and MFO are medical students of the Universidad Maimónides. ECH is a Principal Researcher of the Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos-CONICET (CEFYBO), MB is the director of the School of Medicine at Universidad Maimónides. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.