Background: Premature ovarian failure describes women under 40 who
usually present with amenorrhea, hypergonadotropic hypogonadism, and infertility.
Quercetin is an antioxidant flavonol. Quercetin’s oxidative, kinase and cell
cycle inhibitor activities are known. Our study aimed to examine the efficacy of
Quercetin on premature ovarian failure. Methods: Forty-eight regular-cycled adult female Wistar rats weighing
200 40 grams, 10–12 weeks old, were used in the study. They were
randomly divided into four groups with 12 animals. Four groups are Control,
Cyclophosphamide, Cyclophosphamide + Quercetin (100 mg/kg) and Quercetin (100
mg/kg) groups. At the end of the experiment, the ovarian tissues were quickly
removed. Follicles were counted to determine the ovarian reserve. Serum was
extracted, and an Anti-Müllerian hormone analysis was performed. RT-PCR (reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction) from
ovarian tissue performed mRNA expression analysis of the Ddx4 gene. Results: As a result of Cyclophosphamide administration, it was
determined that there was a decrease in both early-stage follicles and total
follicles. This decrease was also statistically significant (p 0.05).
Anti-Müllerian hormone levels were significantly lower in the group given
Cyclophosphamide (p 0.01). On the histological examination, the number of
early-stage and total follicles was significantly decreased in the
Cyclophosphamide group compared to the control group, and those of the
Cyclophosphamide + Quercetin were very close to that of the control group. Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH)
levels were also significantly lower in the Cyclophosphamide group compared to
the control, but they were recovered to the level of the control group by
Quercetin treatment. Conclusions: Our study may prove that Quercetin can protect ovarian
function against Cyclophosphamide-induced ovarian damage.