Carbon disulfide induces embryo loss by perturbing the expression of the mTOR signalling pathway in uterine tissue in mice.

In this study, we focus on the effect of alterations in the expression of the AKT/AMPK/mTOR signalling pathway in mouse uterine tissue after embryo loss induced by harmful environmental exposure to carbon disulfide (CS2). CS2 is a material used in certain production processes, and women are sometimes exposed to it in occupational settings. We created an animal model of gestating mice exposed to CS2 on gestation days 3 (GD3), 4 (GD4), 5 (GD5) and 6 (GD6) with various corresponding endpoints after the exposure. The uterine tissue was collected according to the endpoint time series to detect the expression levels of mTOR, p-mTOR, pAKT, and pAMPK using western blot, RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry staining, and ELISA. Dietary supplementation with N-carbamoyl glutamic acid (NCG) was used to verify the effect of the mTOR signalling pathway on embryo loss caused by CS2. We detected down-regulation of the levels of the mTOR and p-mTOR proteins; the levels of these two proteins were decreased by 49.35% and 51.44% at the GD5 endpoint after GD3 exposure and by 38.55% and 59.51% after GD4 exposure, respectively. The change in the expression level of mTOR mRNA was consistent with the protein expression, and the mRNA level at the GD5 endpoint was decreased by 55.0% after GD4 exposure (P < 0.05). Additionally, protein expression levels of pAKT were decreased by 49.05%, and the levels of pAMPK were increased by 25.51% at the GD5 endpoint after GD4 exposure (P < 0.05). A similar tr...
Source: Chemico-Biological Interactions - Category: Molecular Biology Authors: Tags: Chem Biol Interact Source Type: research