Biomedical Research

The present study observed the effects of palm vitamin E (PVE) on pregnancy and embryo development in the nicotine-treated rat model. Sprague Dawley rats weighing 160 - 240 g (aged 3 – 6 months) were divided into four groups. Group A (control group), Group B had nicotine (5 mg/kg in 0.2 ml corn oil) sc/day. Animals of Group C received nicotine concur-rently with PVE at a dose of 60 mg/kg orally/day and Group D had PVE alone. To study the embryonic development, immature rats were superovulated following an identical treatment schedules as stated above. Nicotine treatment during pregnancy (from day 1 pc until term) reduced the pregnancy out-come to 33.3% whereas oral supplementation with PVE in nicotine-treated rats increased the percentage of pregnancy outcome to 83.3%. It was moreover found that 25.68 % em-bryos developed into 2- and 4-cell stage in the nicotine plus PVE-treated animals. In conclu-sion, PVE, an antioxidant, is found to be beneficial in neutralizing the nicotine-related ad-verse impact on female reproduction.

Author(s): Norfilza M Mokhtar, Mohd Hamim Rajikin, Zaiton Zakaria
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