Maryam Noori Hassanvand - Arak University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, Arak, Iran.
Malek Soleimani Mehranjani - Arak University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, Arak, Iran
Elham Shojafar - Arak University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, Arak, Iran.

Background: Ovary transplantation is one of the most important ways to protect ovary function needed for post treatment fertility in cancer women. The aim was to investigate the effect of melatonin as a strong antioxidant on reducing inflammation and apoptosis following mice ovary auto-transplantation. Methods: A number of 36 female NMRI mice (18±2) were divided into three groups (N = 12): control,autografted + saline (20 mg / kg / day) and autografted + melatonin (20 mg / kg / day by i.p injected), and each group was divided again into two subsets based on days 7 and 28 after transplantation (n = 6). Blood serum collected on day 7th for evaluating inflammation through the level of IL-6, IL-10 and TNFα, and 28th days after ovaries transplantation to estimate the apoptotic rate of follicles using Tunelstaining. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey s test and the means were considered significantly different at p Result: The level of TNF-α, IL-6 and apoptotic rate of follicles increased significantly in the autografted + saline group compared to the control group. These parameters decreased significantly in the autografted + melatonin group when compared to the autografted + saline group, but not to the control level. IL-10 level in autografted + melatonin group was significantly increased compared to the autografted + saline group but not to the control level Conclusion: Melatonin could effectively reduce inflammation and apoptosis leading to improve the ovaries transplantation in mice.

Apoptosis, Inflammation, Melatoin, Ovary, Autotransplantation