Sympathetic pharmacological denervation in ageing rats: effects on ovulatory response and follicular population
Rebeca Chávez-Genaro A D , Paula Lombide A B , Roberto Domínguez C , Patricia Rosas C and Francisco Vázquez-Cuevas CA Histology and Embryology Department, School of Medicine, General Flores 2125, CP 11800, Montevideo, Uruguay.
B Cell Biology Section, Sciences Faculty, Iguá 4225, CP 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay.
C Biology of Reproduction Research Unit, Laboratory of Reproductive Physiology, Facultad de Estudios Superiores Zaragoza, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, AP 9-020, CP 15000, México, D. F. México.
D Corresponding author. Email: rchavez@fmed.edu.uy
Reproduction, Fertility and Development 19(8) 954-960 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD07075
Submitted: 8 May 2007 Accepted: 16 September 2007 Published: 30 October 2007
Abstract
The present study analyses the participation of ovarian innervation during reproductive senescence. We use the model of acute peripheral pharmacological sympathetic denervation with guanethidine in young (3 months old), middle-aged (12 months old) or old (18 months old) rats with spontaneous or induced ovulation. Ovarian levels of norepinephrine (NE) were measured by HPLC and the oestrous cycle, the number of ovulating animals and the percentage of atretic follicles were also assessed. Aged animals showed a progressive reduction in ovulatory capacity and an increase in ovarian NE content. Acute denervation increased the percentage of healthy follicles in 12- and 18-month-old rats compared with control adult animals. Combined treatment of denervation plus stimulation with gonadotrophins doubled the number of ova shed in young adult rats and restablished a partial ovulation in 12-month-old rats. The results suggest that ovarian noradrenergic innervation plays a modulator role in ovarian physiology during the ageing ovary process. The action of ovarian noradrenergic innervation seems to be associated with folliculogenesis and the ovarian response to gonadotrophins.
Additional keywords: follicular atresia, norepinephrine.
Acknowledgement
This study was supported, in part, by SANDOZ Foundation LA-93-1-02.
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