Abstract
Estrogen and its analogues are ubiquitous in agricultural environments, with large biological functions of oocyte development. Gap junction intercellular communications (GJICs) are the structural basis in cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) and regulate oocyte maturation and developmental material transport through a number of pathways. This study mainly determines the effect and potential mechanism of estrogen (17β-estradiol) in regulating GJICs in porcine COCs. In our study, 17β-estradiol increased porcine nuclear maturation in a time-dependent manner. The analysis revealed that 17β-estradiol upregulated the autophagy in COCs during in vitro maturation. In contrast with the control, 17β-estradiol decreased GJICs in a time-dependent manner between cumulus cells and oocytes, while it was consistent with the control group at 24 h. Carbenoxolone (CBX) blocks GJICs as a negative control group used in our system. Autophagy inhibitor autophinib decreased oocyte maturation, and the reduced nuclear maturation treated with autophinib was abolished by 17β-estradiol. Besides, the upregulation effect of autophinib on GJICs and transzonal projections (TZPs) was decreased by 17β-estradiol. 17β-Estradiol could reduce serine 368 phosphorylation of connexin 43 (Cx43) protein by autophinib in porcine COCs. These results were dependent upon the MEK/ERK signaling pathway. Furthermore, 17β-estradiol-induced GJICs and Cx43 phosphorylation were inhibited by autophinib or the MEK/ERK pathway inhibitors (Trametinib and FR 180204), indicating that 17β-estradiol regulated GJICs through the MEK/ERK signaling pathway. In conclusion, 17β-estradiol improves the autophagy-mediated nuclear maturation with downregulating GJICs and TZPs in porcine COCs. Such an effect occurs by phosphorylation of Cx43, which was regulated via the MEK/ERK signaling pathway.