| Description |
ZEN exposure is associated with a variety of adverse neonatal outcomes especially altered reproductive performance. ZEN is a secondary metabolite and mainly produced by Fusarium fungi. Increasing data indicate that ZEA, as an environmental estrogen can contribute to harmful influence on female reproductive systems, especially influence the oocyte cyst breakdown (CBD) and the formation of primary follicles (PF) in female. However, the impact of ZEA use by lactation period In this study, we investigated that whether the ZEA exposure on breast milk affect the primordial follicle formation of offspring. Our results showed that ZEA exposure significantly reduced the number of primal follicles in the ovaries of offspring. (Furthermore, we detected that ZEA and its metabolites in the blood of mice using LC/MS.) In addition, RNA-seq analysis revealed that there were 46 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the control group and the ZEA treatment groups,. Moreover, we found that the expression level of oocyte specific genes, such as Nobox, Lhx8, Figla, and Sohlh2 were significantly decreased. In addition, ZEA exposure increased the expression levels of DNA damage related genes(γ-H2AX, BRCA1, and RAD51), apoptotic genes (BAX/BCL2, caspase 9), and autophagy genes (LC3I/LC3II) in mouse ovaries. In summary, our data indicate that maternal exposure to ZEN during lactation compromise ovarian reserve of female offspring by breast milk, ZEA exposure to breast milk may adversely affect the establishment of ovarian reserve and ovarian function by affecting the inflammatory factors. |
