Effect of Piperine on Hypothalamic Pituitary Gonadal Axis of Female Albino Rats - A Probable Cause of PCOS

Background: Piperine is a constituent of black pepper. When administered to female adult albino rats, it results in increased levels of LH and FSH, and thus causing diminished ability to procreate. Aim: Is determining the deleterious piperine influences on LH and FSH levels of adult female albino rats. Study design: It is Experimental Location and experiment span: Deptt. of Anatomy, FPGMI, Lahore extending from 01-08-13 to 31-01-14 Methodology: By random selection from 30 rats, three equal groups were made, each with 10 animals. Control status was assigned to group A which was not given any medicine, but only N/S administered with the dosage 10ml/kg body wt./day by using NG tube for a span of 30 days. Group B was given piperine at dosage of 5mg/kg/day for a period of thirty days. The C group was administered drug at the dosage of 10mg per kg per day for the same period of time as A and B via the same route. At completion of thirty days of the study, the animals of the 3 groups were given euthanasia.  Dissection was performed, their ovaries were removed, and after that fixed in 10% formalin. Then, 4-5 micrometer sections preparation was done by using the microtome and then H&E staining was carried out. Results: FSH and LH levels in serum of group B rats was shown to have increased in comparison to control group A. The FSH and LH levels in rats of C group was greater than that in rats of B group. When the two groups were compared, this difference was determined to be extremely of significance having a p-value less than 0.001.       Conclusion: Giving Piperine to female adult albino rats was shown to cause significant increase in levels of FSH and LH which is likely to produce negative feedback on hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and in this way hamper female fertility during their productive years probably by causing PCOS. Key words: Piperine, Albino rat, ovaries, LH, FSH, fertility, hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, PCOS