Effects of Thymoquinone Supplementation on Cyclophosphamide Toxicity of Mouse Embryo In vitro

摘要

Thymoquinone is the major active component derived from the traditional medicinal plant Nigellasativa, which has been shown to exhibit antioxidant property through different mechanisms in animal models.This study evaluates the prophylactic effect of thymoquinone supplementation on culture medium to amelioratecyclophosphamide-induced alterations in cellular differentiation and proliferation during embryo developmentin vitro. Male and female mice were exposed to cyclophosphamide via a single intraperitoneal (i.p.) injectionat 200 mg/kg. Sperms and oocytes were collected at day 33 and day 10 respectively, for insemination andfertilization in medium supplemented with thymoquinone (1μM, 10μM and 100μM). The stages of fertilization,embryo division, morphological effects and fragmentation were examined and compared between groups, 24hours post-fertilization. Thymoquinone supplementation improved fertilization rates, significantly reduced thepercentage of defects blastomeres of Type C (p50%, p<0.05) following paternal and maternal exposures to cyclophosphamide. Thegood quality embryos of Type A and Grade I fragmentation were not observed in the group withoutthymoquinone supplementation. The findings of this study showed that thymoquinone is a suitable exogenousantioxidant for preserving fair-quality embryos which can result into full term pregnancy.