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.