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Introduction: Infertility is defined as the inability to generate children, and affects a significant part of the population. Because it affects the quality of life of the patient, they usually seeks treatments that, in short, are based on hormonal replacement, which has several side effects, opening, thus, a door for the study of alternative treatments, such as the case of medicinal plants. Objective: To measure testosterone, progesterone and estradiol in mice, as well as their weight variation by means of supplementation with Tribulus terrestris L. Methods: Twenty-eight female Swiss mice were divided into four groups, two controls with and without supplementation and two that underwent the process of bilateral ovariectomy, with and without supplementation. The plant extract was administered for 21 days by gavage. The animals were weighed weekly and, after 21 days, were euthanized and the sage was collected for the hormonal dosages. Results: There was a significant fall in testosterone in the groups supplemented with the plant and in the ovariectomized groups in relation to the control group. There were no significant changes in estradiol between groups, whereas progesterone significantly decreased in the castrated groups with and without supplementation. Regarding the weight variation when comparing the ovariectomized and non-ovariectomized groups, a significant increase in weight was observed. Conclusion: Castration promoted weight gain in animals. The same associated with supplementation reduced testosterone and serum progesterone and did not alter estradiol levels in the animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the estrous cycle and the number of smooth muscle cells (NSMC) of the middle coat (MC) of female rats treated with estrogen. Methods: We used twenty female Wistar rats, without sexual experience, were divided into two groups: Control group (n = 10 - 0.2 ml of vehicle) and Estradiol group [(n = 10 - 0.125mcg estradiol valerate (EV)]. The administration of the solutions were made by gavage for twenty-eight days, during this period were performed vaginal smears for evaluation of the estrous cycle. After treatment, the rats were euthanized and the segment of the right popliteal vein was removed for histological procedures. The vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) of MC were observed under an optical microscope at 100x magnification and counted with the aid of manual cell counter brand Digitimer. Results: According to the daily evaluation of vaginal smears, there were no changes in the phases of the estrous cycle. The counting of NSMC between groups GC (n = 8, 30.50 ± 6.28) and GE (n = 8, 29.22 ± 3.41) showed no significant change. Conclusions: We concluded that the hormone EV, in oral daily dose, at concentration of 0.125mcg, do not predispose to estrous cycle and do not alter NSML in the popliteal vein, for twenty eight days of treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]