Astaxanthin increases progesterone production in cultured bovine lutealcells

[摘要] Although astaxanthin (AST) is known to be a strong antioxidant, its effects onreproductive function in domestic animals have not yet been elucidated in detail.Therefore, we investigated the effects of AST on luteal cells, which produce progesterone(P4), an important hormone for maintaining pregnancy. Luteal cells were prepared bycollagenase dispersion of the corpus luteum (CL). The addition of racemic AST at a lowconcentration (<10 nM) to cultured bovine luteal cells increased P4 in the culturemedium (P<0.05). This effect was attributed to an increase in theability of luteal cells to produce P4 (P4/cell·DNA); however, the level of lipid peroxide(TBARS thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) per cell did not decrease with theaddition of AST, whose values were similar to that with the addition of luteinizinghormone. When optical isomers of AST (SS and RR types) were added to the culture medium,respectively, SS-AST was more effective in increasing P4 production than RR-AST. When 1mg/kg·body weight of SS-AST derived from green algae was fed to cows for 2 weeks, itsconcentration in blood plasma was 10.9 nM on average, which was sufficient to expect anin vitro effect on the production of P4 in cows. These resultssuggested the potential of SS-AST supplements for cows to elevate luteal function.

[学科分类] 兽医学

[关键词] astaxanthin;cow;luteal cells;progesterone;TBARS