The effect of aqueous extract of Phoenix Dactylifera Pollen on In vitro viability and proliferation rate of neonatal mouse spermatogonial stem cells

Introduction: There is a fast growing tendency in the consumption of herbal remedies in the developing countries. One of the traditional medicines used for male infertility is Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) pollen (DPP). The goal of the present study was to investigate the effect of aqueous extract of DPP on In vitro viability and proliferation rate of neonate mouse spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). Methods: cell suspension includes sertoli cells and SSCs were isolated from neonatal 6 day-old mice testes by 2 steps enzymatic digestion. The cell suspension was cultured in DMEM and FCS 4% in the absence or presence of 0.06, 0.25 and 0.62 mg/ml of aqueous extract of DPP for 2 weeks. In order to evaluate the rate of SSCs expansion at the end of culture, the mean number of whole cells and living cells were considered as proliferation and survival rates respectively. Data analysis was done with ANOVA test. The significancy of the data was analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey post test. Results: The results showed that there were no significant differences between the mean percent of viability and proliferation rate between control and 0.06, 0.25 and 0.62 mg/ml of DPP-treated groups (P> 0.05). Conclusion: Our study showed that treatment of neonatal mouse testicular cell suspension with DPP had no toxic effects on viability percent and proliferation rate of these cells. Thus, we can use DPP for evaluate the in vitro pattern of SSCs colonization in the future studies.