Effects of date palm pollen on fertility and development of reproductive system in female Balb/C mice

Introduction: The Phoenix dactylifera or date palm pollen (DPP) is widely used for male infertility in traditional medicine. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of DPP on fertility and development of female reproductive system in Balb/C mice. Methods: Ten groups were assigned to 2 control and 8 experimental groups. On the control groups 1 and 2 no treatment was conducted, but in the control group 2, after 10 days the mice were mated. In experimental groups 1 and 2, the animals received DPP (100 and 200 mg/kg, respectively) by oral administration for 10 days. In experimental groups 3 and 4 percentage of mating was evaluated after 10 days. Experimental groups 5 and 6 received DPP during gestation. Embryos were removed to evaluate ovaries histology. For experimental groups 7 and 8, DPP was administered until 21th day after birth. The offspring ovaries were removed to evaluate histological parameters. The levels of sexual hormones were also measured. Results: Several parameters of ovaries in offspring, including mass index, diameter of ovaries, number of primary and secondary graph follicles and corpora luteal, percentage of mating, body mass index and Crown rump (CR) of embryos, diameter of ovary, basic sexual cell number in embryos, and mass index increased in experimental groups in comparison to the controls. However, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in the experimental groups were not significantly different from those in control groups (P>0.05), while estrogen and progesterone considerably increased in experimental groups (P<0.05). Conclusion: Results of our investigation propose that DPP can create an appropriate situation for oogenesis and maintain efficient fertility in female mice which it may be considered as useful nutraceuticals for potentiation of fertility in future human studies.