Effect Study of Verbena Officinalis Medicinal Herb on Sex Hormones Level of NMRI Female Rats During Pregnancy

The use of medicinal herbs in the treatment of diseases has become increasingly widespread, in this regard the Verbena officinalis is considered as one of the herbs that affects pregnancy. The present study was conducted to investigate the Verbena officinalis herb on the level of sex hormones of NMRI female rats during pregnancy. This is an experimental study which divided 40 rats into 5 groups of 8 each and the groups included control, sham, and experimental with 5, 10, and 15 mM alcoholic extract of Verbena officinalis. The serum levels measurement of FSH and LH hormones was done using ELISA (Biotech) method. After blood sampling, the ovaries were stained with hematoxylin eosin for histological examination. Cell count and thickness measurement of different ovarian cells, primitive follicles, primary follicles, growing follicles, graph follicles, lymph nodes, blood vessels, atretic follicles, and abnormal follicles (1 or 2 oocytes in one follicle) were examined microscopically in 6 segments of tissue segments from different groups. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS23 software.The findings of the present study showed that the consumption of alcoholic extract of Verbena officinalis significantly reduced the levels of LH, FSH, the number of abnormal follicles, the number of graph follicles, and the number of corpus luteum in the experimental group compared to the control group (p≤0.05), the number of primary follicles, the number of growing follicles, the number of ethereal follicles, and the number of blood vessels in the experimental group compared to the control group (p≤0.05). The weight, ovarian weight, ovarian diameter, secondary follicle diameter, and primary follicle diameter decreased in experimental groups compared to control group and sham group; however, this decrease was not significant and abnormal follicle diameter in experimental groups compared to control group and group. Sham increased but this increase was not significant (p> 0.05). The results of the present study show that consumption of Verbena officinalis medicinal plant can be effective in abortion