Ascorbic acid and CoQ10 ameliorate the reproductive ability of SOD1-deficient female mice. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Ascorbic acid and CoQ10 ameliorate the reproductive ability of SOD1-deficient female mice.
Biol Reprod. 2019 Aug 2. Epub 2019 Aug 2. PMID: 31373359
Naoki Ishii
Superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) suppresses oxidative stress within cells by decreasing the levels of superoxide anions. A dysfunction of the ovary and/or an aberrant production of sex hormones are suspected causes for infertility in SOD1-knockout (KO) mice. We report on attempts to rescue the infertility in female KO mice by providing two antioxidants, ascorbic acid (AsA) and/or coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), as supplements in the drinking water of the KO mice after weaning and on an investigation of their reproductive ability. On the first parturition, 80% of the untreated KO mice produced smaller litter sizes compared to wild-type mice (average 2.8 vs 7.3 pups/mouse), and supplementing with these antioxidants failed to improve these litter sizes. However, in the second parturition of the KO mice, the parturition rate was increased from 18% to 44-75% as the result of the administration of antioxidants. While plasma levels of progesterone at 7.5 days of pregnancy were essentially the same between the WT and KO mice and were not changed by supplementation of these antioxidants, sizes of corpus luteum cells, which were smaller in the KO mouse ovaries after the first parturition, were significantly ameliorated in the KO mouse with the administration of the antioxidants. Moreover, the impaired vasculogenesis in uterus/placenta was also improved by AsA supplementation. We thus conclude that AsA and/or CoQ10 are involved in maintaining ovarian and uterus/placenta homeostasis against insults that are augmented during pregnancy and that their use might have positive effects in terms of improving female fertility.