Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2022, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (6): 1980-1993.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2022.06.031

• CLINICAL VETERINARY MEDICINE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Alleviating Effect of Aloe-emodin on Follicle Oxidative Stress in Aging Hens

HU Zhewei, XIE Chukang, CHEN Yanqiong, ZHOU Shuo*, ZHANG Caiqiao*   

  1. Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
  • Received:2021-09-16 Online:2022-06-23 Published:2022-06-25

Abstract: To improve the egg production of aging laying hens, we administered intraperitoneal injections of 10 mg·kg-1 aloe-emodin (AE) to laying hens once a day for 7 days. The effects of natural AE on ovarian weight, follicle number and body weight of 580 day old laying hens were studied. Then, detect the effects of AE on the expression level of Nrf2/HO-1 pathway related proteins and genes in D-gal-induced aging ovary, and the changes of AE in alleviating D-gal-induced aging ovary after adding Nrf2 activator and inhibitor, so as to determine whether the alleviating effect of AE on D-gal-induced aging ovary depends on Nrf2/HO-1 pathway. The results showed that AE treatment increased the number of follicles at all levels (P < 0.05), including 32.00%, 34.62%, 50.00% and 54.21% for large, small and large follicles, respectively. Besides, with the treatment of AE, the estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4) levels in the serum of aging laying hens were elevated by 34.14% and 680.00%, respectively. Moreover, the AE treatment can also elevated estrogen receptors (ERs, ERα and ERβ)in follicles and TG content in liver (P < 0.05). Although the transcript levels of fatty acid synthesis related genes were significantly downregulated in D580 laying hens liver tissue, transcription levels of these genes can be elevated by AE treatment. Firstly, the putative attenuating effects, cell proliferation and apoptosis of AE (10 μg·mL-1) was evaluate through the establishment of a 2.5 mg·mL-1 D-gal-induced aging follicular model in vitro. The results showed that AE alleviated the D-gal-induced aging ovary and natural aging ovary by increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes and raising the expression level of Nrf2/HO-1 pathway related proteins and genes. At the same time, AE enhanced the proliferation of senescent follicle cells and inhibited cell apoptosis. In summary, AE alleviated oxidavtive stress in aging hens by activating Nrf2/HO-1 pathway. Meanwhile, AE improved ERs in follicles and vitellogenesis related genes in liver, E2 and P4 levels in serum, follicle antioxidative ability and liver TC synthetic ability, so as to alleviate follicular aging.

Key words: aloe-emodin, chicken, ovary follicle, oxidative stress

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