Effect of genistein on the follicular structure and hormonal changes in induced Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) in female rats

Abstract

The present study investigated the effects of genistein on ovarian follicular development and sex hormones changes in induced-PCOS rats. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, PCOS was induced in adult female Wistar rats by subcutaneous injection of estradiol valerate (2 mg/kg). At the end of 60th day, the rats were divided into four groups (n=10) : (1) control (no treatment); (2) induced PCOS; (3) genistein treatment (sham group) (4) genistein treated in PCOS groups. All rats were sacrificed under anesthesia and their blood samples and ovary samples were collected and assessed by histopathologically, hormonal and histomorphometric analysis. Findings: We investigated a significant reduction in the numbers of primary, preantral and antral follicles, and corpus luteum (CL) were observed in PCOS ovaries (P<0.001).In the genistein treatment group, the number of normal follicles were significantly increased as compared with the PCOS rats(P<0.001).Genistein treatment was significantly increased the progesterone and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels and reduced the estradiol, testosterone and Luteinizig hormone (LH) levels as compared with PCOS-induced rats (P<0.001).