Abstract
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex syndrome that causes infertility in women. Licorice is one of the medicinal plants with antioxidant properties used to treat diseases. This study investigated the anti-inflammatory effect of licorice extract on PCOS. After induction of PCOS by subcutaneous injection (SC) of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) (60 mg/kg) in BALB/C mice for 21 days, the mice were treated with licorice extract (50 mg/kg) for 21 days. At the end of experimental procedures, ovarian morphology, blood antioxidant capacity, nitric oxide (NO), the abundance of Treg cells, and expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß), cyclooxygenase-2 genes (COX-2), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) were measured. The estrus cycle returned to normal after treatment with licorice extract. It was observed that the licorice number of ovarian cysts was significantly higher in the licorice group than in the PCOS group, and the corpus luteum was lower than in the control group. NO, FRAP, and Treg cell numbers did not significantly alter. The TGF- gene’s expression level significantly increased, but the expression level of TNF-α, COX-2, and MMP-9 did not change significantly. Immune responses play an important role in the development of inflammation. Licorice extract, with anti-inflammatory properties, may be an effective supplement in improving the histological and immunological changes of PCOS.
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Ensieh Seif Amirhoseiny: designed the experiments, performed most of the experiments, wrote the manuscript and Editing, and performed the formal analysis of results. Ali Ganji: performed the data analyses, conceptualization, and review. Ghasem Mosayebi: conceptualization, review. Maryam Shamsi: performed most of the experiment, wrote the manuscript, and editing, review. Ali Ghazavi: designed the methodology, analysis, interpretation of data, critical revising manuscript, and funding acquisition. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.
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This work was supported by the Research Council of Arak University of Medical Sciences (grant number: 243).
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All procedures performed in studies involving animals were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional Ethics Committee of the Arak University of Medical Sciences (IR.ARAKMU.REC.1398.243). All experiments in this study were based on the guidelines of the World Health Organization for the care and use of laboratory animals.
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Amirhoseiny, E.S., Ganji, A., Mosayebi, G. et al. Improves immunological and histological alterations associated with Polycystic ovarian syndrome in DHEA -induced mice by Licorice extract. Comp Clin Pathol 32, 827–835 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00580-023-03492-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00580-023-03492-z