Morphological and histological analysis of ovary and uterus following treatment with alpha­ tocopherol in nicotine injected mice

Vitamin E can be classified into eight different lipophilic isoforms molecules which are alpha (a), beta(�), delta (S) and gamma (y) form of tocopherol, and alpha (a), beta W), delta (S) and gamma (y) of tocotrienol. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of alpha-tocopherol in inhibiting the adverse effects of nicotine that causes the follicular and endometrial degeneration. Thirty ICR female mice were divided into five groups consisting group A treated with 0.1 ml com oil, group B treated with 0.1 ml normal saline 0.9%, group C treated with 3 mg/kg/day nicotine, group D treated with 60 mg/kg/day alpha-tocopherol and lastly group E treated concurrently with 3 mg/kg/day nicotine and 60 mg/kg/day alpha-tocopherol. The results were obtained by analyzing the possible outcome by counting the number of follicles in the ovary and predict the thickness of endometrium and myometrium of the uterus. Exposure towards the nicotine resulted in the reduction in numbers of the follicles and endometrium thickness in the group C mice but not seen clearly in group E mice due to present of alpha-tocopherol. It can be concluded that alpha-tocopherol was able to minimize the adverse effects of the nicotine in the ovaries and the uterus.