UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A Penn State animal scientist has received a $650,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to lead a team conducting research on reproductive dysfunction in cattle.
Francisco Diaz, associate professor of reproductive biology in the College of Agriculture Sciences, will use the three-year award coming through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study how high levels of androgen — male hormone — contribute to impaired follicular development and ovulation.
Excessive androgen stimulation is associated with significant ovarian dysfunction and could be a major cause of anovulation — when an egg, or ovum, doesn’t release from a cow’s ovary — but the potential mechanism remains obscure, according to Diaz. Anovulation, with or without the presence of cystic ovarian follicles, is a significant cause of reproductive dysfunction in cattle.
“Environmental factors such as heat stress, feed quality and hormonal imbalances all contribute to reduced reproductive efficiency,” he said. “Our long-term objectives are to first understand the ovarian causes of anovulation and cyst formation and then develop strategies to mitigate these effects to improve ovarian function and reproductive success.”
In addition to improving animal agriculture, this work also has implications for the treatment of polycystic ovarian syndrome — often referred to as PCOS — in women, Diaz suggested. PCOS is a condition characterized by high androgen levels and associated ovarian dysfunction including anovulation.
“Cows are a good model to mimic ovarian function in women because they ovulate one egg per cycle, ovarian structures are of similar size and the hormonal regulation of the ovary is similar,” he said. “Therefore, by studying ovarian dysfunction caused by androgens in cows, we may be able to learn more about the condition of PCOS in women and come up with better treatments.”
The project will be conducted using cells and tissues collected from a local meat processing plant. Cells and tissues from multiple animals will be combined and used in various cell, histological and biochemical assays to examine the consequence of high levels of androgen in cellular, follicular and tissue responses.
–Jeff Mulhollem, Penn State University
