Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 11 pp 14829—14842
Effect of samul-tang on female fertility via RAS signaling pathway in ovaries of aged mice
- 1 Clinical Medicine Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
Received: March 13, 2021 Accepted: May 20, 2021 Published: June 6, 2021
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.203150How to Cite
Copyright: © 2021 Kim and You. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Samul-tang (SM), a traditional herbal medicine, is used to treat age-related human conditions, such as infertility and menstrual irregularities. The mechanism underlying the role of SM in ovary function needs elucidation. In this study, the influence of SM administration on the ovarian reserve of aged mice was investigated. Female BALB/c mice (8 and 40 weeks-old) were administered with distilled water (young or old group) or SM for 4 weeks. SM administration prevented age-related ovarian follicle loss in mice. Quality of oocytes and blastocysts were enhanced in SM-administrated mice compared to those of non-treated old mice. Further, SM administration increased the pregnancy rate and number of litters. SM triggered changes in aging-related genes that are linked to the RAS-mediated pathway. Thus, we demonstrate that SM can be used to increase the oocyte yield in aged women, potentially improving age-related cognitive decline in the ovarian reserve.
Abbreviations
SM: Samul-tang; POR: poor ovarian responses; FSH: follicle-stimulating hormone; AMH: anti-Müllerian hormone; LH: luteinizing hormone; DEG: differentially expressed gene.