Visfatin is a highly conserved adipokine protein having multiple biological effects, including regulation of reproduction. Evidence in recent years has shown a pivotal role of visfatin in ovarian functions. The present study was conducted to evaluate the mRNA and protein abundance of visfatin in ovarian follicles and corpora lutea (CL) during different stages of their development in the ovary of water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and to investigate the role of visfatin on estradiol (E₂) and progesterone (P₄) secretion. Ovarian follicles were categorized in to small (F1), medium (F2), large (F3), and preovulatory (F4) follicles, whereas the CL were categorized into early (CL1), mid (CL2), late (CL3), and regressing (CL4) CL stage. In follicles, the mRNA and protein abundance of visfatin increased with an increase in follicle size in granulosa cells (GCs) and theca interna (TI) cells. In CL, the transcript of visfatin was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in the late luteal phase (CL3) than that in other phases. The translational abundance of visfatin was significantly higher in the mid and late luteal phase. Visfatin was localized in the cytoplasm of GC and TI of ovarian follicles and small and large luteal cells of CL. GCs were cultured in vitro and treated at 0, 1, and 10 ng/mL visfatin either alone or in the presence of FSH (30 ng/mL) or IGF-I (10 ng/mL) for 48 h. The luteal cells were treated with visfatin at 0, 1, and 10 ng/mL dose for 48h. There was significant (P < 0.05) increase in estradiol (E₂) secretion from GCs at 10 ng/mL dose of visfatin and visfatin (10 ng/mL) +IGF-I (10 ng/mL). Visfatin also increased (P < 0.05) progesterone (P₄) secretion from cultured luteal cells at both 1 and 10 ng/mL dose. In GCs, visfatin in the presence of IGF-I increased the transcriptional abundance of cytochrome P45019A1 (CYP19A1), the gene for key enzyme aromatase. In luteal cells, the visfatin increased mRNA abundance of factors involved in progesterone synthesis viz. steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), cytochrome P45011A1 (CYP11A1), 3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD3B1). The present study provided evidence that visfatin is expressed in ovarian follicles and CL of buffalo ovary and visfatin has a stimulatory effect on estradiol and progesterone secretion in ovarian cells of water buffalo.

Visfatin 是一种高度保守的脂肪因子蛋白，具有多种生物学效应，包括调节繁殖。近年来的证据表明内脂素在卵巢功能中的关键作用。本研究旨在评估水牛 ( Bubalus bubalis )卵巢中卵巢卵泡和黄体 (CL) 发育不同阶段内脂素的 mRNA 和蛋白质丰度，并探讨内脂素对雌二醇 (E ₂ ) 和黄体酮 (P ₄) 分泌物。卵巢卵泡分为小（F1）、中（F2）、大（F3）和排卵前（F4）卵泡，而CL分为早期（CL1）、中期（CL2）、晚期（CL3）和回归 (CL4) CL 阶段。在卵泡中，内脂素的 mRNA 和蛋白质丰度随着颗粒细胞 (GC) 和内膜 (TI) 细胞中卵泡大小的增加而增加。在CL中，visfatin的转录在黄体晚期（CL3）显着高于其他阶段（ P < 0.05）。内脂素的平移丰度在黄体中期和晚期显着升高。Visfatin 定位于卵巢滤泡的 GC 和 TI 以及 CL 的大小黄体细胞的细胞质中。GC在体外培养并以 0、1 和 10 ng/mL 内脂素单独或在 FSH (30 ng/mL) 或 IGF-I (10 ng/mL) 存在下处理 48 小时。黄体细胞用 0、1 和 10 ng/mL 剂量的内脂素处理 48 小时。在 10 ng/mL 的 visfatin 和 visfatin (10 ng/mL) +IGF-I (10 ng/mL) 剂量下，GCs的雌二醇 (E ₂ ) 分泌显着增加 ( P < 0.05)。在 1 和 10 ng/mL 剂量下， Visfatin 还增加了 ( P < 0.05) 培养的黄体细胞的孕酮 (P ₄ ) 分泌。在 GCs 中，存在 IGF-I 的 visfatin 增加了细胞色素 P45019A1 的转录丰度（CYP19A1)，关键酶芳香酶的基因。在黄体细胞中，内脂素增加了参与孕酮合成的因子的 mRNA 丰度。类固醇生成急性调节蛋白 ( StAR )、细胞色素 P45011A1 ( CYP11A1 )、3β-羟基类固醇脱氢酶 ( HSD3B1 )。本研究提供的证据表明，visfatin 在水牛卵巢的卵泡和 CL 中表达，visfatin 对水牛卵巢细胞中雌二醇和孕酮的分泌有刺激作用。