Under the stressed condition, a complex feedback mechanism for stress is activated to maintain homeostasis of the body and secretes several stress hormones. But these stress hormones impair synthesis and secretion of the reproductive hormones, followed by suppression of ovarian function. Cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) plays a major role in metabolizing exogenous substances and endogenous hormones, and its expression is recently identified at not only the liver but also several organs with respect to the pancreas, lung and ovary. Although the expression of CYP1A2 can be also affected by several factors, understanding for the changed pattern of the ovarian CYP1A2 expression upon stress induction is still limited. Therefore, CYP1A2 expression in the ovaries from immobilization stress-induced rats were assessed in the present study. The stress-induced rats in the present study exhibited the physiological changes in terms of increased stress hormone level and decreased body weight gains. Under immunohistological observation, the ovarian CYP1A2 expression in both control and the stressed ovary was localized in the antral to pre-ovulatory follicles. However, its expression level was significantly (p < 0.01) higher in the stress-induced group than control group. In addition, stress-induced group presented more abundant CYP1A2-positive follicles (%) than control group. Since expression of the ovarian CYP1A2 was highly related with follicle atresia, increased expression of CYP1A2 in the stressed ovary might be associated with changes of the ovarian follicular dynamics due to stress induction. We hope that these findings have important implications in the fields of the reproductive biology.

Cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) is a member of the cytochrome P450 superfamily enzymes in mammals and plays a major role in metabolizing endogenous hormones in the liver. In recent days, CYP1A2 expression has been found in not only the liver but also other tissues including the pancreas and lung. However, little information is available regarding the expression of CYP1A2 in the ovary, in spite of the facts that the ovarian follicle growth and atresia are tightly associated with controls of endocrine hormonal networks. Therefore, the expression of CYP1A2 in the ovaries of prepubertal and pubertal rats was investigated to assess its expression pattern and puberty-related alteration. It was demonstrated that the expression level of CYP1A2 was significantly (p < 0.01) higher in the pubertal ovaries than prepubertal counterparts. At the ovarian follicle level in both groups, whereas CYP1A2 expression was less detectable in the primordial, primary and secondary follicles, the strongly positive expression of CYP1A2 was localized in the granulosa cell layers in the antral and pre-ovulatory follicles. However, the ratio of CYP1A2-positive ovarian follicle was significantly (p < 0.01) higher in the ovary of pubertal group (73.1 ± 3.1%) than prepubertal one (41.0 ± 10.5%). During the Immunofluorescence, expression of CYP1A2 was mainly localized in Fas-positive follicles, indicating the atretic follicles. In conclusion, these results suggested that CYP1A2 expression was mainly localized at the atretic follicular cells and affected by the onset of puberty. Further study is still necessary but we hypothesize that CYP1A2 expresses in the atretic follicles to metabolize residue of the reproductive hormones. These findings may have important implications for the fields of reproductive biology of animals.

수온의 변화는 어류의 거의 모든 생리학적 부분에 영향을 미친다. 기후 변화로 인한 수온의 상 승은 어류에게 물리적 피해를 줄 수 있다. 이 연구는 최적의 수온(15°C)보다 높은 수온(20°C)에 서의 대서양 연어의 건강상태를 평가하기 위해 수행하였다. 간 조직은 열 적응에 중요한 대사 기능을 발휘하기에 본 연구에 간 조직을 사용하였다. 생체지표유전자의 개발을 위한 분석 방법 으로는 NGS RNAseq 방법을 사용하였고, 생체지표유전자의 발현 양상을 관찰하기 위한 분석 방 법으로는 RT-qPCR을 사용하였다. NGS RNAseq 분석을 통해 1,366개의 차별적 발현 유전자를 확인하였으며, 그 중에서 880개의 증가하는 유전자와 486개의 감소하는 유전자를 확인하였다. 생체지표유전자로는 heat shock protein 90 alpha (Hsp90α), heat shock protein 90 beta (Hsp90β) 및 cytochrome P450 1A (CYP1A)을 선정하였는데 이들 유전자는 NGS RNAseq 분석에서 수온의 변화에 민감하게 반응하는 유전자들이었다. 이들 유전자의 RT-qPCR을 통한 발현 양상은 NGS RNAseq 분석과 유사하게 나타났다. 이 연구의 결과는 다른 어종에도 적용할 수 있으며, 산업 적으로도 유용하다고 생각된다.

CYP1A 유전자는 cytochrome P450 약물대사효소에 속하며 다이옥신 등의 내분비계 장애물질에 의해 농도 의존적으로 유도되어 환경오염물질에 의해 유도되는 특성을 이용하여 환경오염물질에 대해 반응하는 생물체의 유전자 발현 변화뿐만 아니라 이를 토대로 특정지역의 환경오염에 관한 정보를 얻을 수 있다. 본 논문에서는 수서환경오염과 관련하여 CYP1A유전자의 유용성을 다각도로 논의하였다.

Gene expressions of cytochrome P4501A (CYP1A), aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and vitellogenin (Vg) by endocrine disruptors, benzo[]pyrene (B[a]P) and tributyltin (TBT) were examined in cultured eel hepatocytes which were isolated from eels treated previously with B[a]P (10 mg/kg) or estradiol- (20 mg/kg) in vivo, and the relationship between CYP1A, AhR and Vg genes were studied. When the cultured eel hepatocytes were treated with B[a]P () the gene expressions of CYP1A and AhR were enhanced in a concentration-dependent manner. However, when treated with TBT () the gene expressions of CYP1A and AhR were suppressed at high concentrations (), while having no effects at low concentrations (). Gene expression of Vg was also suppressed by TBT in a concentration-dependent manner in cultured eel hepatocytes which was previously treated in vivo with estradiol-.