Gestational Sympathetic Stress Programs the Fertility of Offspring: A Rat Multi-Generation Study.

The exposure to sympathetic stress during the entire period of gestation (4 °C/3 h/day) strongly affects the postnatal reproductive performance of the first generation of female offspring and their fertility capacity. The aim of this work was to determine whether this exposure to sympathetic stress affects the reproductive capacity of the next three generations of female offspring as adults. Adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were mated with males of proven fertility.

Huperzine-A administration recovers rat ovary function after sympathetic stress.

Chronic cold stress affects ovarian morphology and impairs fertility in rats. It causes an ovarian polycystic ovary (PCOS)-like phenotype, which resembles PCOS in women. The mechanism of cold stress action involves increased ovarian noradrenaline (NA) levels, which remain elevated after cessation of cold stress.

Role of ovarian sympathetic nerves and cholinergic local system during cold stress.

An increase in the sympathetic tone in the rat ovary induces a polycystic ovary (PCOS-like) phenotype. No information exists about its impact on fertility. In contrast, increased follicular development and improved fertility in rats were found after pharmacological inhibition of acetylcholinesterase, which increased intraovarian acetylcholine (ACh).