Curcumin alleviates proliferation dysfunction in chicken granulosa cells under oxidative stress through AKT-Raf1-ERK1/2 signaling pathway

High concentrations of reactive oxygen species (ROS) induce oxidative harm in laying chickens, leading to a drop in egg production efficiency. Curcumin alleviates oxidative stress-induced dysfunction by eliminating excess ROS. To investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms, we simulated oxidative stress and antioxidant processes in primary chicken granulosa cells. The results demonstrated that oxidative stress induced proliferation dysfunction in chicken granulosa cells, while curcumin treatment restored normal cell proliferation. Transcriptome sequencing identified a set of key genes. Among them, MHCY14, WFIKKN1, STARD10, and POU3F3 were significantly upregulated under oxidative stress and significantly downregulated during the antioxidant process. In contrast, TMEM45L, GH, C10orf71, ESPN, TRIM7.1, HEPHL1, SPRY3, SRD5A2, and VTCN1L exhibited the opposite expression pattern. Subsequent pathway analysis revealed that curcumin significantly inhibited the protein expression of AKT1, leading to a corresponding reduction in p-AKT1 levels. This was accompanied by a significant decrease in Raf1 phosphorylation and a significant increase in ERK1/2 phosphorylation. In conclusion, oxidative stress induced proliferation dysfunction in chicken granulosa cells, while curcumin alleviated this oxidative damage through the AKT-Raf1-ERK1/2 signaling pathway. These results deepen our insight into oxidative stress regulation mechanisms and may offer important theoretical guidance for optimizing antioxidant selection in poultry egg production.