The Improvement Effect of Thymoquinone on OocyteMaturation and In Vitro Fertilization in NMRI miceInduced by Cyclophosphamide

Background: The purpose was to assess the improvement effectof thymoquinone of the in vitro matured and in vitro fertilizationof mice oocytes as well as the TGF-B superfamily genesexpression in NMRI mice treated by cyclophosphamide (CPH).Materials and Methods: In this s tudy, female NMRI micewere divided into five groups. The groups consis ted of a controlgroup, sham group (treated with solvents), CPH group (receiving۱۲۰ mg/kg of intraperitoneally (IP), experimental groups Aand B, receiving TQ (۵ and۱۰ mg/kg/day for ۴ weeks intraperitoneally).After the las t injection, ۷.۵ international units pregnantmare serum gonadotropin (IU PMSG) and ۱۰ IU humanchorionic gonadotropin (HCG) were adminis tered intraperitoneallyfor induction of ovulation. Then, all the mice were sacrificedto aspirate their oocytes for further evaluation. In vitrofertilization (IVF) was analyzed by using mature oocytes andembryo development was inves tigated up to the ۲ and ۴-celllevels.Results: TQ groups showed a decrease in oocyte degenerationcompared to CPH groups, dose-dependently. A lower rate ofmetaphase I maturation was also observed in the TQ treatmentgroups compared to CPH, and fewer oocytes were maturing inthe phase II s tage. TQ significantly increased the number oftwo-cell and four-cell embryos after ۲۴ and ۴۸ hours of fertilizationcompared to the CPH group. Adminis tration of TQto mice significantly increased the number of primary and secondaryfollicles compared to CPH groups. CPH adminis tration causes degeneration of the follicles compared to the controlgroup. Additionally, TQ-treated groups showed significant increasesin levels of BMP۱۵ and GFDF-۹ gene expression dosedependently,compared to CPH groups.Conclusion: TQ improved decrease of maturation, number offollicles, fertilization and embryonic growth in the ۲-cell and۴-cell levels effected by the CPH adminis tration via increasinglevels of factors affecting the ovaries in mice

کلیدواژه ها:

Cyclophosphamide ، Fertilized Embryos ، OocyteQuality ، Thymoquinone