Diet-induced obesity alters the ovarian chemical biotransformation and oxidative stress response proteins both basally and in response to 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene exposure.

7,12-Dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon that causes female infertility via DNA damage, and the ovary has the capacity to mitigate DMBA exposure via the action of proteins including the glutathione S-transferase (GST) family. Due to previous findings of DNA damage and a reduced ovarian chemical biotransformation response to DMBA exposure in hyperphagia-induced obese mice, this study investigated the hypothesis that diet-induced obesity would hamper the ovarian biotransformative response to DMBA exposure. Six-week-old C57BL6/J mice were fed either a normal rodent diet (L) or a high fat high sucrose diet (O) until the O group was ∼30% heavier than the L. Both L and O mice were exposed to either corn oil (C) or DMBA (1 mg/kg) for 7 d. Liver weight was increased (P < 0.05) in obese mice exposed to DMBA but no effect on spleen weight, uterine weight, ovary weight, estrous cyclicity, or circulating 17β-estradiol and progesterone were observed. Primordial and preantral follicle numbers were higher (P < 0.05) in the obese mice and there was a tendency (P = 0.055) for higher antral follicles in DMBA-exposed obese mice. The ovarian proteome was identified by LC-MS/MS analysis to be altered both by diet-induced obesity and by DMBA exposure with changes observed in levels of proteins involved in oocyte development and chemical biotransformation, including GST isoform pi. Fewer proteins were affected by the combined exposure of diet and DMBA than by a single treatment, indicating that physiological status impacts the response to DMBA exposure.