Abstract
Ovarian insufficiency is one of the common reproductive disorders affecting women with limited therapeutic aids. Mesenchymal stem cells have been investigated in such disorders before yet, the exact mechanism of MSCs in ovarian regeneration regarding their epigenetic regulation remains elusive. The current study is to investigate the role of the bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) lncRNA (Neat-1 and Hotair1) and miRNA (mir-21-5p, mir-144-5p, and mir-664-5p) in mitigating ovarian granulosa cell apoptosis as well as searching BM-MSCs in altering the expression of ovarian and hypothalamic IGF-1 - kisspeptin system in connection to HPG axis in a cyclophosphamide-induced ovarian failure rat model. Sixty mature female Sprague Dawley rats were divided into 3 equal groups; control group, premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) group, and POI + BM-MSCs. POI female rat model was established with cyclophosphamide. The result revealed that BM-MSCs and their conditioned media displayed a significant expression level of Neat-1, Hotair-1, mir-21-5p, mir-144-5p, and mir-664-5p. Moreover, BM-MSCs transplantation in POI rats improves; the ovarian and hypothalamic IGF-1 - kisspeptin, HPG axis, ovarian granulosa cell apoptosis, steroidogenesis, angiogenesis, energy balance, and oxidative stress. BM-MSCs expressed higher levels of antiapoptotic lncRNAs and microRNAs that mitigate ovarian insufficiency.