Effect of the ethanolic extract of the Salvia officinalis on the ovarian hormones at day 7 of pregnancy of mice

Objectives: Determination of the effect of ethanolic extract of Salvia officinalis on the ovarian hormonesMaterials and methods:Leaves of the Salvia officinalis (Herbarium Code: MPH-826) were powdered. 10 adult female mice divided in two groups accidentally. In the control group, the female mice were mated with a fertile male and in the treatment group the adult female mice received daily 100 mg/kg of the ethanolic extract of the Salvia officinalis once a day for 14 days. Next, these female mice of the test group mated with a fertile male. The blood samples were obtained from pregnant mice at day 7 of the pregnancy and the concentration of the progesterone and 17- β estradiol in sera was measured with ELISA (sandwich method).Results and Conclusions: The level of 17-β estradiol was significantly different (p 0.05) between control (72.15±8.3) pg/ml and treatment group (101.51±8.55) pg/ml. Also, the level of progesterone was significantly different (p 0.05) between control (44.29 ± 8.3) ng/ml and test group (113.76 ± 19.52) ng/ml in the control and the test group respectively.The results of this study indicated that the level of ovarian hormones (17-β estradiol progestron) was increased after Salvia officinalis treatment. In attention to hormonal changes in the pregnant mice after 2 weeks treatment with ethanolic extract of Salvia officinalis, also reduction of Natural Killer cells at day 7 pregnancy by this extract, it appears that some signals, local interaction and local growth factors derived from implantation site. Probably increasing the ovarian hormones resulted in reduction of NK cells. Increased uterine Natural Killer cells resulted in more loss of pregnancy through secretion of IFN-γ, thus increasing the ovarian hormones is helpful for development of embryo and implantation.