[Effect of formaldehyde on expressions of Fas apoptosis pathway-related genes of ovary tissues in female rats].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the mechanism of formaldehyde inducing ovarian toxicity in female rats by observing the effect of formaldehyde on the expression of Fas and caspase-8 mRNA, and the activity of caspase-3 and caspase-8 of ovary tissues in female rats. METHODS: Forty female Sprague-Dawley(SD) rats were randomly divided into a control group and 3 formaldehyde groups at different concentrations. The rats in the formaldehyde groups were intraperitoneally injected different doses of formaldehyde (20.0,2.0 and 0.2 mg/kg) continuously for 14 days.After 14 days, all rats were sacrificed and their ovaries were collected for detecting the expression of Fas and caspase-8 mRNA with RT-PCR, the protein expression of Fas with Western blot, and the activities of caspase-8 and caspase-3 with spectrophotometric method. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the expression of Fas mRNA and its protein and caspase-8 mRNA and the activity of caspase-8 and caspase-3 of ovary tissues in the rats treated with formaldehyde significantly increased with dose (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The increase of Fas gene expression and the activity of caspase-8 and caspase-3 may be the important mechanism of ovarian toxicity induced by formaldehyde in female rats.