Involvement of Heat Shock Proteins in Normal Follicular Growth and Ovarian Follicular Cysts.

VELÁZQUEZ MML; SALVETTI NR; REY F; RODRÍGUEZ FM; MATILLER V; BARAVALLE ME; ORTEGA, H.H.

Heat Shock Proteins: Classification, Functions and Applications.

Nova Science Publishers

Lugar: New York; Año: 2012; p. 57 - 72

To be successful, reproductive processes should be in harmony and synchronized withthe environment. In fact, adequate conditions promote reproduction via hormonalstimulators. Adverse conditions, such as inadequate temperature, nutritionaldeficiencies, and infections, induce stress and suppress reproduction through stressrelatedsubstances. These anomalies induce changes in the expression of numerousgenes, including genes encoding heat shock proteins (HSPs), which could potentiallyoppose and even spoil hormonal effects and reproductive success. Moreover, theexpression of these genes would be part of the functional response to the hormones andneurotransmitters induced by stress. There are reports indicating that HSPs can controlhormonal functions and vice versa. It has been found that the expression of theseproteins is higher in the female reproductive organs and that their main functions arerelated to the maintenance of the configuration of non-stimulated steroid receptors andthe modulation of binding to receptor. Furthermore, since the ovarian cycle is associatedwith changes in the expression of HSPs, these proteins could be in close relationshipwith anovulatory disorders like cystic ovarian disease (COD) in cattle, where acombination of weak proliferation indices and low apoptosis has been described. In thissense, it has been demonstrated that HSPs are also involved in cell survival and deathmechanisms. Therefore, previous observations of aberrant HSPs gene expression incells of cystic follicles suggest that these proteins could be associated with the intraovariancomponent of COD pathogenesis, due to a link with intracellular apoptosissignaling pathways.