The present study investigated the effects of a number of oxoanion compounds on in vitro ovulation of goldfish follicles and ovarian second messenger activities. Significant levels of ovulation were induced by 0.1 mM sodium chromate, 0.1 mM sodium metavanadate, 10 mM sodium molybdate, 0.1 mM sodium orthovanadate, 5 mM sodium selenate, 0.5 mM sodium tungstate, and 0.1 mM vanadyl sulfate. At levels that significantly stimulated ovulation, metavanadate, molybdate, orthovanadate, tungstate, and vanadyl sulfate also stimulated follicular phosphatidylinositol cycling and inhibited ovarian alkaline phosphatase activity. Moreover, the ovulation induced by these oxoanions was not inhibited by indomethacin (10 micrograms/ml), while ovulation induced by selenate and chromate was. In contrast, only vanadium-containing compounds significantly stimulated prostaglandin (PG) synthesis, and, in fact, selenate significantly inhibited PG production. Finally, only sodium molybdate- and vanadium-containing compounds appeared to increase follicular adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate content. While all oxoanions stimulated in vitro ovulation, they had differential effects on certain signal transduction pathways when tested at concentrations that stimulated in vitro ovulation. From the results, two basic groups could be delineated, one containing tungstate-, molybdate-, and vanadium-containing compounds and the other selenate and chromate. Thus the mechanism by which ovulation is induced by chromate and selenate may be different from that of vanadium-containing compounds, molybdate, and tungstate.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
