EN
In the presented study, sexually immature beagle bitches were exposed per os to 50 or 75 µg/kg b.w. of zearalenone (ZEA) for 42 d, and real-time qPCR assay was performed to investigate a possible effect of the treatment on CYPscc and 3β-HSD mRNA expression in canine ovary . While the exposure of bitches to ZEA at a lower dose (50 µg/kg b.w.; 100% NOAEL) did not cause distinct effect on the expression of examined genes, the treatment with the higher dose (75 µg/kg b.w.; 150% NOAEL) resulted in over 5-fold increase in 3β-HSD mRNA level (P<0.05). The results suggest that the appearance of ZEA in bitches ovaries may trigger the accumulation of 3β-HSD in a way similar to that of pregnenolone. Further, more detailed experiments need to be performed in order to assess whether ZEA and its major metabolites, α- and β-zearalenol, are involved in transcriptional regulation of the key steroidogenic enzymes.