The Effect of Flax Seed (Linum Usitatissimum) Hydroalcoholic Extract on Brain, Weight and Plasma Sexual Hormone Levels in Aged and Young Mice

BACKGROUND Flax is a food and fiber crop that is grown in some regions of the world. Its value will account for its great popularity as a food, medical and cosmetic applications. Flax fibers are taken from the stem of the plant and are two to three times as strong as cotton. In this study, we compared brain weight and plasma sex hormone levels in young and aged mice after the administration of Linum usitatissimum (flax seed) hydro alcoholic extract. METHODS In this study, 32 aged and 32 young mice were divided into 4 groups. Controls remained untreated and experimental groups were fed with flax seed hydroalcoholic extract by oral gavages during 3 weeks. After 3 weeks, the brain was removed and blood samples were collected to measure sex hormone levels by ELISA. Data analysis was done by statistical ANOVA test using SPSS version 18 (P<0.05). RESULTS The results of this study shows that the brain weight of mice did not change significantly, but the sex hormone levels in the experimental groups in comparison with the control groups increased significantly (P<0.05). CONCLUSION The hydroalcoholic extract of flax seed had no effect on the brain weight, but this extract improved the sexual hormone levels.