OBJECTIVE: To test our hypothesis that reproductive aging changes the ovarian oxidative stress defense profile, in response to prostaglandin F2alpha (PGF2alpha) during corpus luteum regression, because how a cell or an organ handles reactive oxygen intermediates may be dependent on the biological age of the organism. DESIGN: Animal experimentation using rat model of corpus luteum regression. SETTING: University reproductive biology laboratory. ANIMAL(S): Control (26-day-old) and 8- to 9-month-old (reproductive aging) rats. INTERVENTION(S): Corpus luteum formation was induced in control and 8- to 9-month-old (reproductive aging) rats with pregnant mare serum gonadotropin followed by human chorionic gonadotropin. Regression was then initiated with PGF2alpha. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Vitamin E, glutathione reductase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase, and thiobarbituric acid-reacting substances were measured. RESULT(S): Ovaries from reproductive aging rats, compared with the control (26-day-old) group, had elevated vitamin E levels at 0, 2, and 24 hours after PGF2alpha. At 2 and 24 hours after PGF2alpha, the aging ovaries had lower glutathione reductase levels. CONCLUSION(S): These data suggest that the reproductive aging ovary has a transformed oxidative stress defense profile and that this may account for some of the physiological changes found in reproductive aging.
OBJECTIVE: To test our hypothesis that reproductive aging changes the ovarian oxidative stress defense profile, in response to prostaglandin F2alpha (PGF2alpha) during corpus luteum regression, because how a cell or an organ handles reactive oxygen intermediates may be dependent on the biological age of the organism. DESIGN: Animal experimentation using rat model of corpus luteum regression. SETTING: University reproductive biology laboratory. ANIMAL(S): Control (26-day-old) and 8- to 9-month-old (reproductive aging) rats. INTERVENTION(S): Corpus luteum formation was induced in control and 8- to 9-month-old (reproductive aging) rats with pregnant mare serum gonadotropin followed by human chorionic gonadotropin. Regression was then initiated with PGF2alpha. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Vitamin E, glutathione reductase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase, and thiobarbituric acid-reacting substances were measured. RESULT(S): Ovaries from reproductive aging rats, compared with the control (26-day-old) group, had elevated vitamin E levels at 0, 2, and 24 hours after PGF2alpha. At 2 and 24 hours after PGF2alpha, the aging ovaries had lower glutathione reductase levels. CONCLUSION(S): These data suggest that the reproductive aging ovary has a transformed oxidative stress defense profile and that this may account for some of the physiological changes found in reproductive aging.