Localization of the Trace Elements Iron, Zinc and Selenium in Relation to Anatomical Structures in Bovine Ovaries by X-Ray Fluorescence Imaging

Abstract

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was used to image 40 histological cross-sections of bovine ovaries (n=19), focusing on structures including: antral follicles at different stages of growth or atresia, corpora lutea at three stages of development (II-IV), and capillaries, arterioles, and other blood vessels. This method identified three key trace elements [iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), and selenium (Se)] within the ovarian tissue which appeared to be localized to specific structures. Owing to minimal preprocessing of the ovaries, important high-resolution information regarding the spatial distribution of these elements was obtained with elemental trends and colocalizations of Fe and Zn apparent, as well as the infrequent appearance of Se surrounding the antrum of large follicles, as previously reported. The ability to use synchrotron radiation to measure trace element distributions in bovine ovaries at such high resolution and over such large areas could have a significant impact on understanding the mechanisms of ovarian development. This research is intended to form a baseline study of healthy ovaries which can later be extended to disease states, thereby improving our current understanding of infertility and endocrine diseases involving the ovary.

Selenium, Selenoproteins, and Female Reproduction: A Review

“…The fact that many researchers have demonstrated a pronounced reduction in GPX1 expression under deficient dietary Se conditions highlights the possibility that ovarian pathologies may, partially, be ameliorated through Se supplementation [8]. These findings will serve as bases for epidemiological studies tending to outline the dietary uptake of Se, GPX1 expression in vivo, and the occurrence of ovulation related diseases [8,9].…”

Trace Elements in Pregnant and Non-pregnant Sheep and Goats and Their Relation to Steroid Hormones

“…Females with delayed sexual maturity, idiopathic infertility were found to have inadequate Se and aberrated Se-binding protein-1 (Edassery et al, 2010). Fe, Se and Zn were consistently confined to the granulosa cell layer of different classes of the ovarian follicles including small, Trace Elements in Pregnant and Non-pregnant Sheep and Goats and Their Relation to Steroid Hormones medium and large follicles (Ceko et al, 2015). It was reported that the elevated Se in healthy follicles is may be attributable to the upregulation of selenoproteins GPX1 in these follicles compared with atretic ones (Ceko et al, 2016).…”

“…Based on these findings, there is strong evidence that these elements are decisive for different stages of follicular development including recruitment, selection, dominance and maturation (Edassery et al, 2010). It was found that Se and Zn are abundant in the follicular wall in both theca interna and the granulosa (Ceko et al, 2015). Trace elements especially Se and Zn are involved in cholesterol synthesis (Zheng et al, 2015).…”

2016 Atomic Spectrometry Update – a review of advances in X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and its applications

“…In this next section, a few interesting applications are brought to your attention. Quantitative element analysis of bovine ovarian follicles using m-XRF imaging was performed by Ceko et al, 349,350 thereby improving their understanding of infertility and endocrine diseases involving the ovary. The measurements which were performed at the m-XRF beamline at the Australian Synchrotron resulted in important high-resolution information regarding the spatial distribution of the elements of interest.…”