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Microplastics (MPs), recognized as an emerging environmental menace, have been extensively investigated in both marine and terrestrial fauna. This study is comprehensive to investigate how polystyrene (PS) affects ruminant animals. The experimental design comprised 24 individually housed lambs, divided into a CON group (diet without PS) and three PS-exposed (25 μm, 50 μm, 100 μm) groups, each with six lambs, the exposure of PS was 100 mg/day, and the duration of exposure was 60 days. The study yielded noteworthy results: (ⅰ) PS leads to a decrease in average daily gain along with an increase in feed conversion rate. (ⅱ) PS decreases rumen ammonia nitrogen. The rumen microbiota diversity remains consistent. However, the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria increased in the PS-exposed groups, while the relative abundance of Coriobacteriales_incertae_Sedis and Prevotellaceae_YAB2003_group decreased. (ⅲ) PS leads to decrease in hemoglobin, thrombocytocrit, and albumin levels in lamb blood, thus triggering oxidative stress accumulation, along with swelling of the kidneys and liver. (ⅳ) PS inflicts severe damage to jejunum, consequently impacting digestion and absorption. (ⅴ) PS reduces meat quality and the nutritional value. In conclusion, PS-exposure inhibited lambs' digestive function, adversely affects blood and organs' health status, reducing average daily gain and negatively influencing meat quality. PS particles of 50-100 μm bring worse damage to lambs. This research aims to fill the knowledge void concerning MPs' influences on ruminant animals, with a specific focus on the meat quality of fattening lambs., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Theca cells (TCs) are regulated by various factors during ovarian development. However, the role of follicular fluid exosomes in ovarian TCs has not yet been reported. In the present study, we explored the effects of follicular fluid exosomes on porcine ovarian TCs. TCs were treated with follicular fluid exosomes in vitro, and the differential gene expression profiles of TCs in the exosome and control groups were obtained via transcriptome sequencing. Differentially expressed genes were identified and found to be associated with antioxidative stress, proliferation, and steroid hormone synthesis of TCs. In addition, exosomes were found to increase antioxidative stress, proliferation, and steroid synthesis, as revealed by a higher mRNA and protein expression of GPX1, CCND1, PCNA, CYP11A1, and HSD3B1 and lower mRNA and protein expression of TNFR1 and BAX. In conclusion, we demonstrated that exosomes are essential components in regulating the physiological function of TCs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Research Question: Can RNA transcripts of granulosa cells be used to assess oocyte quality? The possibility of predicting the developmental competence of oocytes by RNA sequencing analysis of granulosa cells was evaluated., Design: Granulosa cell samples were collected from 29 women undergoing assisted reproductive technology treatment and divided into two groups: 14 samples from the high blastocyst rate group and 15 from the low blastocyst rate group. Ten samples from each group were selected for RNA sequencing., Results: A total of 129 differentially expressed genes associated with high developmental competence of oocytes were identified. COL1A2, renin and COL1A1 were selected and further examined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Expression levels of COL1A2 and renin by qRT-PCR were consistent with the results of RNA sequencing., Conclusion: RNA sequencing data could provide novel marker genes for the non-invasive evaluation of oocyte quality and embryo developmental competence., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)