The effects of L-Arginine and L-Name on corpus luteum and growing follicle changes in pregnant rats

Considering the important role of nitric acid in many biologic processes of cells and tissues including reproduction, in this study we investigated the effects of L-Arginine as a NO formation progenitor and L-Name as a NO formation inhibitor on ovarian corpus luteum and growing follicle changes in pregnant rats. Forty female rats of 8 weeks old and 200-250 gr. weight were divided into 5 groups, containing 8 rats in each group upon observing vaginal plaque (It has been considered as zero days at pregnancy).These 5 groups were as follows: Control, Normal Saline, L-Arginine, L-Name and L-Arginine & L-Name. Except the control group, the other groups received normal saline (2 ml/kg/ip), L-Arginine (200mg/kg/lip), L-Name (20mg/kg/lip) and a mixture of two substances for L-Arginine & L-Name group respectively on 3th, 4th, and 5th days of pregnancy. On the 18th day of pregnancy, after anesthesia with ether, laparatomy was performed to separate the mother’s ovaries. Then, the ovaries were fixed in 10% formalin, after tissue passage, the sections were stained with H&E and PAS methods. The changes were observed via light microscopy and graticule. In the eye of qualitative study, tissue degenerative changes and eruption in most parts of ovaries in L-Arginine group were observed, in quantitative study, the reduction of corpus luteum dimension in mentioned group were seen.(p<0.05)Discussion & Results of this study showed that NO can inhibit the cell growth in pregnancy and induce malfunction in ovary.