N-Acetylcysteine relieving hydrogen peroxide-induced damage in granulosa cells of sheep.

Sheep ovarian granulosa cells (GCs) play a unique role in the ovary. Damage to GCs can affect the normal development of oocytes. The oxidative stress model was constructed by H2O2to study the biological changes. Specifically, pathological characteristic was assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC), while signaling pathway was studied using western blot, quantitative RT-PCR, and immunofluorescence. Theresults showed that the oxidative damage model was successfully constructed by 200 μmol/LH2O2 for 12 h. NAC can protect the proliferation of GCs under H2O2-induced oxidative stress and reduce apoptosis. It can also promote the secretion of E2 and P4 by GCs and reduce the inflammatory response of GCs. NAC can enhance the expression of NRF2, PI3K and Akt. These findings suggest that NAC alleviates H2O2-induced oxidative stress injury through NRF2/PI3K/AKT signaling pathways. Provide ideas for studying the poor quality of mammalian oocytes.