Histopathologic and metabolic effect of ursodeoxycholic acid treatment on PCOS rat model

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) treatment on a polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) rat model. Thirty-two female Wistar–Albino rats were randomly divided into four groups as follows – group 1: sham group (n: 8), group 2: letrozole-induced PCOS group (n: 8), group 3: letrozole-induced PCOS plus metformin-treated (500 mg/kg) group (n: 8) and group 4: letrozole-induced PCOS plus UDCA (150 mg/kg)-treated group (n: 8). Histopathologic examination of the ovaries, circulating estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), testosterone, androstenedione, glucose, insulin and lipid profiles were evaluated. Histopathologic examination results revealed that groups 3 and 4 had significantly lower cystic and atretic follicles compared to group 2. Besides, group 4 had significantly higher antral follicles than group 2 (8.5 ± 2.9 versus 5.4 ± 1.1; p: 0.001). Furthermore, total testosterone (4.9 ± 2.8 versus 8.8 ± 2.9; p= 0.004) and insulin levels were significantly lower in group 4 compared to group 2 (1.7 ± 0.08 versus 2.1 ± 0.5; p = 0.02). However, lipid parameters, E1, E2, glucose and HOMA-IR were comparable between the groups. Our study results demonstrated that UDCA therapy improves ovarian morphology and decreases total testosterone and insulin levels.

Chinese abstract

本研究的目的是确定熊去氧胆酸（UDCA）对大鼠多囊卵巢综合征（PCOS）模型治疗的效果。将32只雌性Wistar-Albino大鼠随机分为四组，如下所示，组1：假治疗组（n：8），组2：来曲唑诱导PCOS组（n：8），组3：来曲唑诱导PCOS+二甲双胍治疗（500mg/kg）组（n：8），组4：来曲唑诱导PCOS+ UDCA治疗（150mg/kg）组（n：8）。进行卵巢组织病理检查，评估循环中雌酮（E1），雌二醇（E2），睾酮，雄烯二酮，血糖，胰岛素和血脂水平。病理检查结果显示：和组2相比，组3和组4囊性卵泡和闭锁卵泡的数量显著降低。此外，组4窦状卵泡的数目比组2明显增多（8.5±2.9对5.4±1.1；p：0.001）。而且，组4的总睾酮（4.9±2.8比8.8±2.9；p = 0.004）和胰岛素水平（1.7±0.08比2.1±0.5；p = 0.02）明显低于组2 。然而，各组间的脂质水平，E1，E2，血糖和HOMA-IR是可比的。我们的研究结果表明UDCA治疗能改善卵巢形态并减少总睾酮和胰岛素的水平。

• Histopathology
• polycystic ovary syndrome
• treatment
• ursodeoxycholic acid

Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by Department of Scientific Research Project’s (Project No 13240) in Mustafa Kemal University.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.