Protective Effects of Taurine Against Zearalenone-Induced Quality Impairment During Porcine Oocyte Maturation

Zearalenone (ZEN) is a common non-steroidal estrogenic mycotoxin that exists widely in contaminated feeds, and its toxicities target multiple organs, especially the reproductive system, since ZEN is shown to affect oocyte quality. In the present study, we reported that taurine (TAU), a sulfur-containing amino acid that exhibits antioxidant properties, protected the maturation quality of ZEN-exposed porcine oocytes. We showed that TAU significantly reversed the cumulus cell expansion and polar body extrusion defects of porcine oocytes under ZEN treatment. The rescue effect of TAU was attributed to its regulation of mitochondrial functions, which recovered mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), mitochondrial quantity and mitochondrial fission. This further balanced reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and reduced early apoptosis and DNA damage of porcine oocytes. The protection of TAU was confirmed by the integrity of subcellular cytoskeleton dynamics of oocytes, since microtubule stability-related spindle morphology and actin nucleation-related actin assembly were all preserved upon TAU supplementation. Furthermore, we showed that TAU reduced GRP78-dependent ER stress and autophagy levels and protected Rab10-mediated vesicular transport, which further ensured the organelle distribution, such as ER, lysosomes, and Golgi apparatus. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that TAU effectively alleviated ZEN-induced impairment of porcine oocyte developmental competence.