Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation alleviates the hyperandrogenism of polycystic ovarian syndrome rats by regulating the expression of P450arom and CTGF in the ovaries.

The present study was to investigate the effects of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) in alleviating the hyperandrogenism of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) model rats induced by testosterone propionate and the possible underlying mechanism. Thirty-six female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into normal control, PCOS model and TEAS groups with twelve rats in each group. The PCOS model rats were established by single injection of testosterone propionate at 9th day after birth, and the status of estrous cyclicity for each rat was observed. When the 8-week TEAS treatment completed, the weight of body, uterus and ovaries of the rats were respectively measured. The serum levels of total testosterone (TT), sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), androstenedione, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and estradiol (E2) were detected. The mRNA and protein expression levels of aromatase cytochrome P450 (P450arom) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in the ovaries of the rats were respectively measured with real-time quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry. The TEAS treatment significantly improved the estrous cycles of the PCOS rats and the TEAS group displayed significantly lower average body and ovaries weights than the PCOS model group (P < 0.05). TEAS significantly decreased the serum TT, free androgen index (FAI), androstenedione and LH/FSH levels, and increased the serum FSH levels of the PCOS rats (P < 0.05). The TEAS treatment significantly increased the P450arom mRNA as well as protein expression levels and significantly decreased the CTGF mRNA as well as protein expression levels in the ovaries of the PCOS rats (P < 0.05). We concluded that it is through regulating the P450arom and CTGF expression levels in the ovaries that TEAS significantly alleviates the hyperandrogenism of PCOS rats induced by testosterone propionate.