hormonal, inflammatory, modulatory, and antioxidant effects of glycyrrhiza glabra l extract in polycystic ovary syndrome rat models

One of the most prevalent metabolic conditions affecting women in their reproductive years causing infertility or subfertility is polycystic ovary syndrome (pcos). this pilot study aimed to assess whether glycyrrhiza glabra l. aqueous extract (gae) could prevent or treat pcos in the rats which received estradiol®. following acclimation, the adult female wistar albino rats weighing 160-200 grams were randomly assigned to four groups. normal rats were used in the first group as the controls. in the second group, normal rats were administered 100 mg/kg of glycyrrhiza glabra l orally for six weeks. in the third group, pcos animal models that were not treated were served as the positive control. finally, glycyrrhiza glabra l was administered for six weeks to a group of pcos animal models. the obtained results demonstrated that the pcos caused by estradiol® was significantly restored by glycyrrhiza glabra l extracts. the results pointed to a considerable reduction in serum levels of fsh, lh, prl, testosterone, e2, tnf-α, il-1β, il-4, il-6, and il-10, along with a slight increase in insulin and progesterone levels, indicating that glycyrrhiza glabra l extract significantly controlled pcos deteriorations. in a similar vein, a noteworthy improvement was detected in the oxidative status; ovarian sod, gpx, cat, and gsh levels were significantly raised, accompanied by a notable decrease in mda and no levels. in addition, urea, creatinine, cholesterol, triglycerides, alat, and asat activities were significantly reduced. moreover, gae exhibited nephro-hepatoprotective and anti-atherogenic capabilities. these results were in accordance with the comparable values of the healthy group. histological analysis corroborated these results. in summary, phytochemicals, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory qualities of gae, along with its capacity to cause folliculogenesis, allowed it to effectively alleviate the effects of estradiol®-induced polycystic ovary.