Juglone, a naphthoquinone isolated from many species of the Juglandaceae (walnut) family, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries for its various pharmacological effects. Our previous research found its toxic effects on oocytes maturation. But we still know a little about its toxic effects on embryo development. Here, we used mouse embryo as a model to explore the effects of juglone on early mammalian embryo development. Exposure to juglone significantly decreased the development rate in early mouse embryos in vitro. Moreover, juglone exposure led to developmental arrest by disturbing mitochondrial function, producing abnormal epigenetic modifications, inducing high levels of oxidative stress and DNA damage, and increasing the rate of embryonic cell apoptosis. However, vitamin C (VC) ameliorated the toxic effects of juglone to a certain extent. Overall, juglone has a toxic effect on early embryo development through the generation of ROS and apoptosis. But VC was able to protect against these juglone-induced defects. These results not only give a new perspective on juglone’s pharmacological effects on early mammalian embryo development, but also provide ideas for the better application of this agent in traditional Chinese medicine.

Juglone 是一种从胡桃科 (胡桃) 科的许多物种中分离出来的萘醌，由于其多种药理作用，几个世纪以来一直用于中药。我们之前的研究发现其对卵母细胞成熟的毒性作用。但我们对它对胚胎发育的毒性作用仍然知之甚少。在这里，我们使用小鼠胚胎作为模型来探索胡桃苷对早期哺乳动物胚胎发育的影响。暴露于胡桃酮显着降低了体外早期小鼠胚胎的发育速度。此外，胡桃苷暴露通过干扰线粒体功能、产生异常表观遗传修饰、诱导高水平氧化应激和 DNA 损伤以及增加胚胎细胞凋亡率导致发育停滞。然而，维生素C（VC）在一定程度上改善了胡桃的毒性作用。总的来说，胡桃酮通过产生 ROS 和细胞凋亡对早期胚胎发育具有毒性作用。但是 VC 能够防止这些胡桃引起的缺陷。这些结果不仅为胡桃酮对哺乳动物早期胚胎发育的药理作用提供了新的视角，也为该药物在中药中的更好应用提供了思路。