Immunohistochemical Expression (IE) of Oestrogen Receptors in the Intestines of Prepubertal Gilts Exposed to Zearalenone

Magdalena Gajęcka; Iwona Otrocka-Domagała; Paweł Brzuzan; Michał Dąbrowski; Sylwia Lisieska-Żołnierczyk; Łukasz Zielonka; Maciej Tadeusz Gajęcki

doi:10.3390/toxins15020122

Immunohistochemical Expression (IE) of Oestrogen Receptors in the Intestines of Prepubertal Gilts Exposed to Zearalenone

Toxins (Basel). 2023 Feb 2;15(2):122. doi: 10.3390/toxins15020122.

Authors

Magdalena Gajęcka¹, Iwona Otrocka-Domagała², Paweł Brzuzan³, Michał Dąbrowski¹, Sylwia Lisieska-Żołnierczyk⁴, Łukasz Zielonka¹, Maciej Tadeusz Gajęcki¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Veterinary Prevention and Feed Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Oczapowskiego 13, 10-718 Olsztyn, Poland.
² Department of Pathological Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Oczapowskiego 13, 10-718 Olsztyn, Poland.
³ Department of Environmental Biotechnology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Fisheries, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Oczapowskiego 13, 10-718 Olsztyn, Poland.
⁴ Independent Public Health Care Centre of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, and the Warmia and Mazury Oncology Centre in Olsztyn, al. Wojska Polskiego 37, 10-228 Olsztyn, Poland.

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine if a low monotonic dose of zearalenone (ZEN) affects the immunohistochemical expression (IE) of oestrogen receptor alpha (ERα) and oestrogen receptor beta (ERβ) in the intestines of sexually immature gilts. Group C (control group; n = 18) gilts were given a placebo. Group E (experimental group; n = 18) gilts were dosed orally with 40 μg ZEN /kg body weight (BW), each day before morning feeding. Samples of intestinal tissue were collected post-mortem six times. The samples were stained to analyse the IE of ERα and Erβ in the scanned slides. The strongest response was observed in ERα in the duodenum (90.387-average % of cells with ERα expression) and in ERβ in the descending colon (84.329-average % of cells with ERβ expression); the opposite response was recorded in the caecum (2.484-average % of cells with ERα expression) and the ascending colon (2.448-average % of cells with ERα expression); on the first two dates of exposure, the digestive tract had to adapt to ZEN in feed. The results of this study, supported by a mechanistic interpretation of previous research findings, suggest that ZEN performs numerous functions in the digestive tract.

Keywords: gilts before puberty; immunohistochemistry; oestrogen receptors; zearalenone.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Estrogen Receptor alpha
Estrogen Receptor beta
Female
Intestines
Receptors, Estrogen
Sus scrofa / metabolism
Swine
Zearalenone* / metabolism

Substances

Zearalenone
Receptors, Estrogen
Estrogen Receptor alpha
Estrogen Receptor beta

Grants and funding

The study was supported by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education as part of Project No. 12-0080-10/2010. The project was financially supported by the Minister of Education and Science under the program entitled “Regional Initiative of Excellence” for the years 2019–2023, Project No. 010/RID/2018/19, amount of funding PLN 12,000,000.