Effect of malnutrition/serum deprivation on release of progesterone and estradiol by cultured porcine ovarian follicles and their response to metabolic hormones

Abstract

The aim of present studies is to understand hormonal mechanisms of the effect of malnutrition on ovarian functions. For this purpose we examined the effect of malnutrition/serum deprivation, addition of metabolic hormones IGF-I and leptin and their combination on the release of progesterone (P4 ) and estradiol (E2 ) by cultured whole ovarian follicles isolated from porcine ovaries. It was observed that in the presence of serum the addition of IGF-I promoted release of P4 but not of E2 by ovarian follicles. Exogenous leptin reduced output of E2 but not of P4 . Serum deprivation did not affect a release of P4 but reduced output of E2 . An addition of both IGF-I and leptin prevented effect of malnutrition on E2 release by cultured ovarian follicles. Present observations (1) confirm the involvement of hormones IGF-I and leptin in control of secretory activity of ovarian cells, (2) demonstrate, that isolated ovarian follicles cultured in the absence of serum could be an adequate in-vitro model for the study of the effect of malnutrition on ovarian secretory functions, (3) suggest, that malnutrition could affect ovarian functions through the changes in ovarian estradiol release, and (4) suggest that metabolic hormones could be useful for a prevention of negative effects of malnutrition on ovarian functions.