Free radicals and reactive oxygen species play a number of significant and diverse roles in reproductive biology. In common with other biological systems, mechanisms have evolved to minimize the damaging effects that these highly reactive molecules can have on reproductive integrity. Conversely, however, recent findings illustrate the constructive roles that oxygen radicals and reactive oxygen species play in a number of important junctures in the development of germ cells and the obligate endocrine support they receive for the successful propagation of the species. Specifically addressed in this review are some aspects of sperm development and action, the uterine environment, oocyte maturation and ovulation, and corpus luteum function and regression.

No abstract

The hypothesis that hydrogen peroxide generation occurs in the corpora lutea of superovulated rats during luteolysis was tested using a peroxide-dependent inhibitor of catalase, 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (AT). Luteal regression was induced during midpseudopregnancy by injection of 500 micrograms prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha) 1 h before administration of AT (0.1 g/kg, ip) and was confirmed by progesterone analysis of peripheral blood serum. Within groups of both PGF2 alpha-treated and untreated control rats, other rats also received ethanol (0.2 g/kg, ip), which prevents hydrogen peroxide-mediated inhibition of catalase by AT. Diluted homogenates of ovaries removed 1 h after AT administration were assayed for catalase activity by measuring the decrease in absorbance at 240 nm for 30 sec after the addition of hydrogen peroxide (10 mM). Ethanol-sensitive catalase inhibition by AT was significantly higher (47.9 +/- 3.38%) in samples from PGF2 alpha-treated groups than in controls (23.1 +/- 4.82%; P less than 0.01; n = 9). Similar increases in catalase inhibition by AT were found in luteal tissue of rats treated with PGF2 alpha 24 h earlier and in rats in which luteolysis was allowed to occur spontaneously in late pseudopregnancy. Hemoglobin an AT assays revealed that the changes in catalase activity were not the result of altered blood contamination or AT concentration in the luteal homogenates. Since catalase inhibition by AT is only seen in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, these results support the conclusion that an early and sustained component of corpus luteum regression is the generation of hydrogen peroxide in luteal tissue.

No abstract

Six‐carbon (C6) volatile products are released from the enzymatic action of hydroperoxide lyase (HPL), a component of the lipoxygenase (LOX) pathway and form the basis of the “green‐note” flavour characteristic of many consumed plant products. Arabidopsis leaf tissue contains the C6‐aldehydes hexanal, and trans‐2‐hexenal as well as the C6‐alcohols: hexanol, and 3‐hexenol. Interconversion between C6‐aldehydes and alcohols is thought to proceed through the action of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). Using an ADH mutant of Arabidopsis, we have shown that there are large quantitative and qualitative differences in the accumulation of C6‐volatiles in the absence of ADH activity. The total quantity of LOX‐derived volatiles is greater on a fresh weight basis in the ADH mutant. Qualitatively, hexanol and 3‐hexenol levels are approximately 62% and 51% lower in the mutant, respectively, whereas levels of hexenal are approximately 10‐fold higher. Hexanal accumulation, however, is unaffected in the mutant. The altered profile of LOX‐derived volatiles does not have an effect on the steady‐state levels of mRNA for allene oxide synthase (AOS) or LOX. HPL activity and mRNA quantity, however, are higher in the mutant relative to wild type, suggesting that altered product levels in the mutant affect HPL regulation.