Abstract
Environmental toxicants are chemical substances that remain in the environment owing to various activities such as manufacturing, product leaching, and human contamination which may result in adverse health effects. In this study, we investigated the effects of potassium bromate (KBrO3) and thymoquinone (TQ), on reproductive hormone levels and histomorphological variations in the ovaries and uteri of female mice. In the current study, all experimental animals were orally administered KBrO3 (100 mg/kg body weight) and TQ (20 mg/kg body weight) for 60 days. Alterations in hormone and antioxidative parameters along with histomorphological variations were assessed in mice. The findings demonstrated that the oral administration of KBrO3 had a significant effect on body weight, uterine weight, and gonadosomatic index (GSI), along with changes in gonadotropin, estrogen, and progesterone levels in female mice. Specifically, KBrO3 degenerated the thecal layer around follicles and caused vacuolization. KBrO3 decreased the number of growing follicles and increased the number of mature follicles. TQ administration restored normal ovarian histoarchitecture. TQ protected female mice against reproductive toxicity induced by KBrO3. Our findings suggest that TQ can be used as a natural therapeutic agent to combat KBrO3-induced reproductive toxicity by improving the hormonal and histomorphological parameters. Our study implies that TQ can be used as natural therapeutic medicine against the reprotoxic effect caused by KBrO3 by improving hormonal and histomorphological parameters.
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This research was supported by the Department of Bioscience Barkatullah University, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.
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Patel, N., Shrivastava, R. & Shrivastava, V.K. Ameliorative role of thymoquinone against reprotoxic effect caused by potassium bromate in female mice. Comp Clin Pathol 32, 467–475 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00580-023-03458-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00580-023-03458-1