Fatty Acids Related Genes Expression Undergo Substantial Changes in Porcine Oviductal Epithelial Cells During Long-Term Primary Culture

The process of reproduction requires several factors, leading to successful fertilization of an oocyte by a single spermatozoon. One of them is the complete maturity of an oocyte, which is acquired during long stages of folliculogenesis and oogenesis. Additionally, the oviduct, composed of oviductal epithelial cells (OECs), has a prominent influence on this event through sperm modification and supporting oocyte’s movement towards uterus. OECs were isolated from porcine oviducts. Cells were kept in primary in vitro culture for 30 days. After 24h and on days 7, 15 and 30 cells were harvested, and RNA was isolated. Transcript changes were analyzed using microarrays. Fatty acids biosynthetic process and fatty acids transport ontology groups were selected for analysis and described. Results of this study indicated that majority of genes in both ontology groups were up-regulated on day 7, 15 and 30 of primary in vitro culture. We analyzed genes involved in fatty acids biosynthetic process, including: GGT1, PTGES, INSIG1, SCD, ACSL3, FADS2, FADS1, ACSS2, ALOX5AP, ACADL, SYK, ACACA, HSD17B8, FADS3, OXSM, and transport, including: ABCC2, ACSL4, FABP3, PLA2G3, PPARA, SYK, PPARD, ACACA and P2RX7. Elevated levels of fatty acids in bovine and human oviducts are known to reduce proliferation capacity of OECs and promote inflammatory responses in their microenvironment. Most of measured genes could not be connected to reproductive events. However, the alterations in cellular proliferation, differentiation and genes expression during in vitro long-term culture were significant. Thus, we can treat them as putative markers of changes in OECs physiology.