Effects of shilajit on radiation-induced apoptosis in rat ovarian follicles,

Ovarian follicular degeneration is accelerated by ionizing radiation. In ovarian tissue, radiation creates oxidative stres, on the other hand it triggers the intrinsic apoptotic pathway. Shilajit, a natural product that consists a combination of organic and inorganic materials, is being used as a part of traditional treatment systems mainly in traditional indian medicine and especially in the summer, in the mountainous regions such as Himalayas, the Hindu Kush, Pamir and the Urals it exudes from roots of rocks which are from 1000 to 5000 meters high. Free radical scavenging effect of shilajit has been shown in the current reports. At the same time, it has been shown that shilajit induce oocyte proliferation and differentiation and increase the frequency of ovulation shortening diestrus. In our study; 40 prepubertal female Wistar albino rats, including one in the control group were divided into 4 groups. Shilajit were given to rats in shilajit and radiation+shilajit groups in dose 100 mg/kg p.o., rats in radiation and radiation+shilajit groups were exposed to 8.3 Gy whole body ionizing radiation. 4 days after irradiation the rats were sacrificed and the ovaries were collected. It has been observed that shilajit group had much more primordial follicle number compared to control group and the situation was the same for the radiation+shilajit group compared to radiation group. What is more, advenced stages of follicles that are in radiation+shilajit group have partially saved their morphological integrity and they showed compatible appearance with early stage of apoptotic changes. It has also been found that the oxidant-antioxidant balance was affected positively in shilajit treated groups. Morover, in immunohistochemical staining which was done for apoptotic markers like p53, Bax and caspase 3 expressions of these markers were observed to have weakened in shilajit treated groups.