Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2019, Vol. 50 ›› Issue (12): 2518-2528.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2019.12.016

• BASIC VETERINARY MEDICINE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of Photoperiods on Distribution and Expression of Melatonin Receptors in Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Ovary Axis in Female Rabbits

WANG Wenli1, ZHANG Yuxian1, YUAN Zhanhang2, WANG Zixu2*, DONG Yulan2, CHEN Yaoxing2   

  1. 1. Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Beijing Vocational College of Agriculture, Beijing 102442, China;
    2. Laboratory of Anatomy of Domestic Animals, College of Animal Medicine, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
  • Received:2019-07-03 Online:2019-12-23 Published:2019-12-20

Abstract: The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of photoperiods on the distribution and expression patterns of melatonin receptor in the "hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis" of female rabbits, and to further analyze the mechanism of melatonin regulating estrus in female rabbits under different photoperiods. A total of 48 5-month-old nulliparous female New Zealand rabbits, were reared in artificial illumination. They were randomly assigned to 3 groups of 16 each. All groups were reared in 12-h L/12-h D photoperiod for the first 10 days, then were reared in long light group (LD, L:D=16:8), short light group (SD, L:D=8:16) or control group (L:D=12:12) for the last 6 days separately. Light intensity was 80 lx, the total trial period was 16 days. The hypothalamus, pituitary and ovary samples were collected after the test. The effects of photoperiod on the distribution and expression of melatonin receptor subtypes in hypothalamus, pituitary and ovaries of female rabbits were investigated by real-time PCR, Western blot and immunohistochemical staining. The results showed that the expression of MT1 mRNA in the SD group was 88.8% higher than that in the LD group (P<0.05), and 54.9% higher than that in the control group (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between the LD group and the control group. The expression of MT2 mRNA was not significantly different between different photoperiod groups (P>0.05). Immunohistochemical staining showed that the number of MT1 positive cells in the periventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus in the LD group was significantly lower than that in the SD group (69.4%, P<0.05) and the control group (37.3%, P<0.05), and that of SD group was 104.8% higher (P<0.05) than the control group. Meanwhile, the number of MT1 positive cells in the paraventricular nucleus of the LD group was 52.9% lower than that in the SD group (P<0.05), and that of the control group was 55.8% lower than that of the SD group (P<0.05), while there was no difference between the LD group and the control group (P>0.05). In the pituitary, the expression of MT1 mRNA in the SD group was 164% higher than that in the LD group (P<0.05) and 49.5% higher than that in the control group (P<0.05), and the LD group was significantly lower than the control group by 43.5% (P<0.05), while there was no significant difference in MT2 mRNA expression between different photoperiods (P>0.05). The expression of MT1 mRNA in the ovary of the LD group was 33.3% lower than that of the control group (P<0.05) and 53.6% lower than that of the SD group (P<0.05), and there was no significant difference between the SD group and the control group (P>0.05). However, the relative mRNA expression of MT2 of the ovary in the SD group was significantly higher than that of the control group by 90.0% (P<0.05) and the LD group by 100% (P<0.05), and there was no difference between the LD group and the control group (P>0.05). Short light photoperiod increased the expression of melatonin receptor MT1 subtype in hypothalamus, pituitary gland and ovary, rather than the MT2 receptor. These results suggest that the regulation mechanism of photoperiod on estrus in female rabbits may be realized by MT1 receptor pathway.

Key words: photoperiod, rabbit, hypothalamus, pituitary, ovary, MT1, MT2

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