Preventive effects of aqueous extract of jujube on growth index of mice fetuses exposed to Carbamazepine

Carbamazepine (CBZ) is an anticonvulsant drug that is widely used, primarily to treat seizures. One of the side effects of this medication during pregnancy is the reduced fetal growth. The jujube has been widely used in traditional medicine because of its special compound. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the preventive effects of aqueous extract of jujube on growth index of mice fetuses exposed to Carbamazepine. In this study, 100 Balb/C mice (28-30 gr; 8-9 weeks-old) were divided into eight experimental and two control groups. Experimental groups (І, ІІІ, V) and (ІІ, IV, VI) received daily intraperitoneal injections of 50 and 100 mg/kg of CBZ, respectively. Experimental groups (ІІІ, IV) and groups (V, VI) were gavaged doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg of aqueous extract of jujube respectively. Groups VII and VIII received only doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg of aqueous extract of jujube respectively. Control groups І and ІІ were gavaged to normal saline and tween respectively. Injections were done on 0 to 15 gestational days (GD), and aqueous extract was gavaged along with CBZ starting 10 days prior to gestation. On GD 18, fetuses were removed for weighing and crown-rump measuring. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and Tukey tests using SPSS (version 18) at 0.05%. Average weight and body length of fetuses in experimental groups I and II, that received CBZ, significantly reduced compared with control groups. In the fetuses of experimental groups V (1.20±0.38) and VI (1.21±0.21 gr) that recieved jujube extract (400 mg/day) with CBZ, the mean weight of these fetuses increased meaningfully in comparison with the experimental groups I (0.93±0.19 gr) and II (0.92±0.26 gr) respectively. This study showed that aqueous extracts of jujube can have preventive effects on reducing effect of CBZ on birth fetal weight.