Effects of Oviductus Ranae on Follicular Developmental Dysfunction by Tripterygium in Rats

Objective: To study the effect of oviductus ranae (OR) on follicle development and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signaling pathway in the ovaries of follicular developmental dysfunction rats. Methods: Randomly divide the screened 40 female WISTAR rats into control group (CG), model group (MG), positive qroup (PG), OR high-dose (ORHG) and low-dose group (ORLG). Except the CG rats, the rats in other groups were treated with triptolide solution (40 mg/kg) once a day. The PG were treated with estradiol valerate solution (0.1 mg/kg) and megestrol acetate solution (0.8 mg/kg). The ORHG and ORLG were treated with OR solution (400、200 mg/kg). The rat serum was collected to determine the contents of estradiol (E2), progesterone (P), Luteinizing hormone (LH), Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and testosterone (T) at 8th week . The ovaries and uterus of rats were harvested and weighed, and the organ index was calculated. HE staining and TUNEL staining were performed on one ovary to calculate the number of follicles at all levels. The relative expression of PI3K, AKT, phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN) mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) mRNA and the contents of PI3K, Akt, phosphorylated protein kinase B(p-Akt) protein in the other ovary was measured. Result: The results indicated that the follicular development dysfunction model was successfully established. Compared with the MG, the wet weight and index of uterus of the ORHG was increased significantly (P<0.05). The estrous cycle of rats in the ORHG and ORLG was significantly shortened (P<0.05), the number of secondary follicles was significantly increased (P<0.05), the follicular atresia rate was significantly reduced (P<0.05), the serum FSH and LH content was decreased significantly (P<0.05), the serum T and E2 content was increased significantly (P<0.05), PI3K protein content was increased significantly (P<0.05), Akt protein phosphorylation level was increased significantly (P<0.05), the relative expression of PTEN mRNA was decreased significantly (P<0.05). The relative expression of mTOR mRNA in ORHG was significantly lower than that of MG (P<0.05). Conclusion: OR can obviously improve the follicular development dysfunction of rats induced by triptolide, and it can up-regulate PI3K/Akt signal pathway to promote the growth and development of follicles in rats with follicular development dysfunction.