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Effect of quercetin on the number of blastomeres, zona pellucida thickness, and hatching rate of mouse embryos exposed to actinomycin D: An experimental study
Sameni, Hamid Reza; Javadinia, Sara Sadat; Safari, Manouchehr; Amjad, Mohammad Hasan Tabrizi; Khanmohammadi, Nasrin; Parsaie, Houman & Zarbakhsh, Sam
Abstract
Background: Quercetin is a flavonoid with the ability to improve the growth of
embryos in vitro, and actinomycin D is an inducer of apoptosis in embryonic cells.
Objective: The aim was to evaluate the effect of quercetin on the number of viable
and apoptotic cells, the zona pellucida (ZP) thickness and the hatching rate of
preimplantation embryos exposed to actinomycin D in mice.
Materials and Methods: Two-cell embryos were randomly divided into four
groups (Control, Quercetin, actinomycin D, and Quercetin + actinomycin D group).
Blastocysts percentage, hatched blastocysts, and ZP thickness of blastocysts was
measured. The number of blastomeres was counted by Hoechst and propidium
iodide staining and the apoptotic cells number was counted by TUNEL assay.
Results: The results showed that the use of quercetin significantly improved the
growth of embryos compared to the control group (p=0.037). Moreover, quercetin
reduced the destructive effects of actinomycin D on the growth of embryos
significantly (p=0.026).
Conclusion: quercetin may protect the embryos against actinomycin D so that
increases the number of viable cells and decreases the number of apoptotic cells,
which can help the expansion of the blastocysts, thinning of the ZP thickness and
increasing the hatching rate in mouse embryos.
Keywords
Quercetin; Embryonic development; Zona pellucida; Apoptosis; Blastocyst inner cell mass.
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