Reproductive aging results in a reconfigured ovarian antioxidant defense profile in rats.
OBJECTIVE
To test our hypothesis that reproductive aging changes the ovarian oxidative stress defense profile, in response to prostaglandin F2alpha (PGF2alpha) during corpus luteum regression, because how a cell or an organ handles reactive oxygen intermediates may be dependent on the biological age of the organism.


METHODS
Animal experimentation using rat model of corpus luteum regression.


METHODS
University reproductive biology laboratory.


METHODS
Control (26-day-old) and 8- to 9-month-old (reproductive aging) rats.


METHODS
Corpus luteum formation was induced in control and 8- to 9-month-old (reproductive aging) rats with pregnant mare serum gonadotropin followed by human chorionic gonadotropin. Regression was then initiated with PGF2alpha.


METHODS
Vitamin E, glutathione reductase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase, and thiobarbituric acid-reacting substances were measured.


RESULTS
Ovaries from reproductive aging rats, compared with the control (26-day-old) group, had elevated vitamin E levels at 0, 2, and 24 hours after PGF2alpha. At 2 and 24 hours after PGF2alpha, the aging ovaries had lower glutathione reductase levels.


CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that the reproductive aging ovary has a transformed oxidative stress defense profile and that this may account for some of the physiological changes found in reproductive aging.
Yeh
John
J
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14222, USA. jyeh@buffalo.edu
Bowman
Mary Joann
MJ
Browne
Richard W
RW
Chen
Ning
N
D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D010053:Ovary / Q000378:metabolism*; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*
D000975:Antioxidants