Protective Effect of L-carnitine on Morphological Alterations and Occurrence in Developing Follicles Exposed Ionising Radiation in Rat Ovary

Objective: this study deals with the morphological degenerations of normal and atretic follicles based on artificially induced radiation apoptosis. ovarian follicular degeneration is accelerated by ionising radiation. the aim of the present study was to assess the radioprotective effects of l-carnitine on ovarian follicles.material-method: thirty wistar albino female rats were divided into five groups. rats with or without pretreatment with 200 mg/kg l-carnitine, were irradiated with 8.3 gy of x ray. the ovaries were collected at 6 h and 4 d after irradiation. every fifth section throughout the entire ovary was stained with hematoxylin and eosin and follicles with a nucleus present in the oocyte were counted. the follicles were classified as primordial, primary, preantral and antral. the levels of il-1α, il-4 and gm-csf in serum were determined by flow cytometric analysis.results: the ratio (%) of normal to atretic follicles decreased with time after the irradiation in primordial follicles and in primary follicles as well. at 6 h after irradiation, the number of degenerated primordial follicles increased. granulosa cells became round in shape and apoptotic cells started to appear. when the ovarian tissues of the rats exposed to ionizing radiation were examined, the number of atretic follicles in the 4th day id group was significantly prominent at 6th hour according to the ir group. a significant improvement in ir damage was observed in lk treated groups. serum levels of il-1α, il-4 and gm-csf were increased in the ir groups compared to the control group and the treatment group.conclusions: it is concluded that the ionizing radiation acutely induces the degeneration of primordial and primary follicles these results can provide morphological clues for the identification of the degenerating primordial and primary follicles in normal and irradiated rat ovaries.