Acute effect of high-intensity interval training exercise on redox status in the ovaries of rats fed a high-fat diet.

This study demonstrates the effect of a single high-intensity interval training (HIIT) session on the redox status of rat ovaries with excess adiposity. Forty Wistar female rats (mean (±s.e.m.) weight 94.40 ± 13.40 g) were divided into two groups and fed either a standard diet (SD) or a high-fat diet (HFD) for 62 days. At the end of this period, the rats were subjected to a single HIIT session and were killed 24 h after exercise. Both groups subjected to exercise (SDex and HFDex) generated a significantly higher antioxidant environment by presenting a higher thiol content, which represents a lower oxidation rate of GSH than their respective controls (SD and HFD). The percentage of morphologically normal primary follicles decreased, whereas that of antral follicles increased, in the SDex group. In addition, the HFD group had a higher percentage of degenerated antral follicles than the SD and SDex groups. Cells immunoreactive for α-smooth muscle actin were seen in the cortical stroma and thecal layer enclosing late secondary and tertiary follicles in all groups. Moreover, heme oxygenase and cytochrome P450 family 19 subfamily A member 1 (Cyp19A1) labelling was seen in all antral follicles. Progesterone concentrations were significantly higher in the HFDex than SDex group. In conclusion, this study indicates that a single session of HIIT may result in an improvement in ovary redox status because of metabolic muscle activity by inducing physiological adaptation after exercise in a paracrine manner.

First pregnancy after in vitro culture of early antral follicles in goats: Positive effects of anethole on follicle development and steroidogenesis.

This study aimed to evaluate the role of anethole during the in vitro culture of caprine early antral follicles. Early antral follicles were isolated from caprine ovaries and cultured for 18 days without (control) or with anethole (300 µg/ml). After culture, the cumulus-oocyte complexes were subjected to in vitro maturation, followed by parthenogenetic activation or in vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo culture. Follicular walls were used for the quantification of messenger RNA (mRNA) of CYP19A1, CYP17, MMP-9, TIMP-2, Bax, and Bcl-2 genes, and culture medium was used for evaluation of ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and estradiol levels. After in vitro follicle culture (IVFC), anethole induced higher total antioxidant capacity, that is, it produced higher FRAP levels, reduced the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, and increased the levels of mRNA for CYP19A1 and CYP17, which was associated with a greater estradiol production (p < .05). Also, anethole improved the ability of oocytes to resume meiosis and reach metaphase II stage, as well as yielded higher (p < .05) embryo production (e.g., morulas and blastocysts) in both parthenogenetic activation and IVF techniques. One pregnancy (Day 30) was obtained from IVFC with anethole. In conclusion, anethole promoted in vitro growth and maturation of goat early antral follicles and oocytes and enabled embryo production. Furthermore, this study reports, for the first time in goats, a pregnancy after IVF using oocytes originated from early antral follicles grown in vitro.