Currently more than 300 million adults are obese and 1 billion are overweight throughout the world. Obesity is frequently accompanied by an array of health conditions such as hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes which are all considered to be part of what is now known as the metabolic syndrome. The role of adipose tissue as an endocrine organ has been emphasized by the characterization of its hormones: leptin, adiponectin and resistin. All three proteins regulate energy utilization. Over the past decade, leptin and resistin have also been shown to affect the reproductive system. This suggests that other adipocytokines, such as adiponectin, may also affect reproduction. This relationship was investigated using a porcine in vitro maturation system. When porcine cumulus oocyte complexes were matured in the presence of 30mug/mL of recombinant adiponectin an improvement in the meiotic maturation was observed. Moreover, maturation of denuded oocytes revealed that adiponectin acts through the cumulus cells to improve meiotic maturation of porcine oocytes. Finally, maturation of cumulus-oocyte complexes in the presence of MAPK pathway inhibitors suggested that adiponectin acts at or downstream of MEK1/2 and 38MAPK. This study shows, for the first time, an effect of adiponectin on porcine oogenesis. Further investigation will determine whether adiponectin also affects embryo development.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.99329 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Chappaz, Eugénie. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Animal Science.) |
| Rights | © Eugénie Chappaz, 2006 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002571614, proquestno: AAIMR28474, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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