Mona Sharma

Abstract

Background: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-?) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine implicated in various physiological and pathological events. Carnitine is a quaternary amine which plays a significant role in fatty acid oxidation and is reported to produce antiapoptotic effects. Aim of this work was to study the effect of L-Carnitine (LC) on TNF-? induced apoptosis in mice oocytes. Materials and Methods : Oocytes were isolated from super ovulated Swiss Albino mice and treated with different concentrations of TNF-? (0.1ng/ml, 1ng/ml, 10ng/ml, 100ng/ml) and LC (0.1mg/ml, 0.3mg/ml, 0.5mg/ml, 1.0 mg/ml). TUNEL Assay was done for the biochemical assessment of apoptosis. Results: Apoptotic indices with different doses of TNF-? (0.1ng/ml, 1ng/ml, 10ng/ml, 100 ng/ml) were 28.5%, 71.4%, 100%, 42.8% respectively. The concentration of TNF-? that produced the highest apoptotic index was 10ng/ml. LC alone in different doses (0.1mg/ml, 0.3mg/ml, 0.5mg/ml, 1.0 mg/ml) did not elicit any apoptotic signal. Further LC was added in different doses with 10ng/ml TNF-? to study the rate of apoptosis in mice oocytes. Apoptotic index with 10 ng/ml TNF-? and different doses of LC (0.1mg/ml, 0.3mg/ml, 0.5mg/ml, 1 mg/ml) were 25%, 37.5%, 50%, 62.5% respectively. The concentration of LC that reduced the apoptotic index to the maximum was 0.1mg/ml. Conclusion: Present study could demonstrate the anti-apoptotic effect of LC against apoptotic effects of TNF-? in mice oocytes. The study presents preliminary data suggesting a possible therapeutic role of LC in inflammatory etiologies such as ovarian failure.   Keywords: TNF-alpha, Apoptosis, L- Carnitine, Anti- inflammatory, Oocyte.

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