Observation of the influences of diosgenin on aging ovarian reserve and function in a mouse model

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of diosgenin, an important monomer of sapogenins in yams, on ovarian reserve in a natural aging mice model. STUDY DESIGN: This randomized controlled trial included 60 9-month-old C57 naturally aging female mice. Twenty-one mice were assigned to the dio group and were fed a single dose of diosgenin (200 mg/kg/day) suspended in 0.3% CMC. Twenty mice were assigned to the DHEA group and were fed a single dose of DHEA (1.25 mg/kg/day) suspended in 0.3% CMC. The remaining 20 mice were assigned to the old control group and were fed a single dose of 0.3% CMC. Three months later, the reproductive performance of these female mice was determined by evaluating ovarian follicles and oocyte number and quality in IVF and comparing age-matched and young controls. The impact of NOBOX, GDF9 and BMP15 mRNA expression was also evaluated. RESULTS: Diosgenin improves ovarian reserve in naturally aging mice in terms of increasing the number of primary follicles (P < 0.05) and serum levels of AMH (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Diosgenin could counteract age-associated ovarian dysfunction by improving the ovarian reserve in a natural aging mice model.