Corticosterone induced apoptosis of mouse oviduct epithelial cells independent of the TNF-α system

Ying-Qi ZHAO; Ren-Ren CHEN; Qiao-Qiao KONG; Jin-Song AN; Xin-Yue ZHAO; Shuai GONG; Hong-Jie YUAN; Jing-He TAN

doi:10.1262/jrd.2020-122

Original Article

Corticosterone induced apoptosis of mouse oviduct epithelial cells independent of the TNF-α system

Ying-Qi ZHAO, Ren-Ren CHEN, Qiao-Qiao KONG, Jin-Song AN, Xin-Yue ZHAO, Shuai GONG, Hong-Jie YUAN, Jing-He TAN

Author information

Ying-Qi ZHAO
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology and Disease Control and Prevention, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an City 271018, P. R. China
Ren-Ren CHEN
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology and Disease Control and Prevention, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an City 271018, P. R. China
Qiao-Qiao KONG
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology and Disease Control and Prevention, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an City 271018, P. R. China
Jin-Song AN
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology and Disease Control and Prevention, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an City 271018, P. R. China
Xin-Yue ZHAO
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology and Disease Control and Prevention, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an City 271018, P. R. China
Shuai GONG
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology and Disease Control and Prevention, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an City 271018, P. R. China
Hong-Jie YUAN
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology and Disease Control and Prevention, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an City 271018, P. R. China
Jing-He TAN
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology and Disease Control and Prevention, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an City 271018, P. R. China

Keywords: Apoptosis, Corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH), Glucocorticoids, Oviductal epithelial cells, TNF-α signaling

JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS

2021 Volume 67 Issue 1 Pages 43-51

DOI https://doi.org/10.1262/jrd.2020-122

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Abstract

It has been reported in recent studies that restraint stress on pregnant mice during the preimplantation stage elevated corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) and glucocorticoid levels in the serum and oviducts; furthermore, CRH and corticosterone (CORT) impacted preimplantation embryos indirectly by triggering the apoptosis of oviductal epithelial cells (OECs) through activation of the Fas system. However, it remains unclear whether TNF-α signaling is involved in CRH- and/or glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis of OECs. In the present study, it was shown that culture with either CRH or CORT induced significant apoptosis of OECs. The culture of OECs with CRH augmented both FasL expression and TNF-α expression. However, culture with CORT increased FasL, but decreased TNF-α, expression significantly. Although knocking down/knocking out FasL expression in OECs significantly ameliorated the proapoptotic effects of both CRH and CORT, knocking down/knocking out TNF-α expression relieved only the proapoptotic effect of CRH but not that of CORT. Taken together, our results demonstrated that CRH-induced OEC apoptosis involved both Fas signaling and TNF-α signaling. Conversely, CORT-induced OEC apoptosis involved only the Fas, but not the TNF-α, signaling pathway. The data obtained are crucial for our understanding of the mechanisms by which various categories of stress imposed on pregnant females impair embryo development, as well as for the development of measures to protect the embryo from the adverse effects of stress.

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