Participation of the extrinsic cholinergic innervation in the action of nitric oxide on the ovarian steroidogenesis in the first proestrous in rats

DELSOUC, MARÍA B.; MORALES, LAURA D.; VALLCANERAS, SANDRA; BRONZI, DANIELA; ANZULOVICH, ANA C.; DELGADO, SILVIA M.; CASAIS, MARILINA

GENERAL AND COMPARATIVE ENDOCRINOLOGY

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 vol. 236 p. 54 - 62

0016-6480

An ex-vivo Coeliac Ganglion-Superior Ovarian Nerve-Ovary (CG-SON-O) system and an O without peripheral neural influence from virgin rats in the first proestrous were used to test whether ovarian extrinsic innervation and nitric oxide (NO) affects steroidogenesis in the O. The CG and the O were placed in separate buffered-compartments, connected by the SON. The stimulation of the CG was achieved by 10-6 M acetylcholine (Ach). The O without peripheral neural influence was placed alone in a buffered-compartment. To test a possible role of NO in the ovarian response to peripheral neural influence, 100 µM sodium nitroprusside (SNP, an NO donor), and 100 µM NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, an inhibitor of NO synthase) were added to the O compartment separately. In the CG-SON-O system, SNP into the O compartment increased the concentration of NO, reduced the release of progesterone and increased the release of estradiol (E2), increasing the mRNAs related to their synthesis enzyme. The addition of L-NAME to the O compartment caused an opposite effect. In the O alone, NO manifested an anti-steroidogenic effect on both hormones. These results show that the ovarian extrinsic innervation maintains a direct relationship between NO and E2, both needed at high levels during the follicular phase, allowing the continuity of the estrous cycle.