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Background: The relation between menopausal status and diabetes mellitus remains controversial. However, clinical trials suggest that menopause would speed the progression to diabetes. Reproductive tract dysfunction is a recognized consequence of diabetes obesity syndrome (DOS). Therefore, a possible association between obesity, diabetes mellitus and abnormalities of female reproductive function may occur. Nowadays traditional medicinal plants and spices are commonly used for their possible effects as hypoglycaemic, antidiabetic and folliculogenic agents instead of using synthetic drugs. Recent studies suggest that bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) are promising grafts to treat a variety of diseases, including reproductive dysfunction.Aim of the work: The objective of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic implication of MSCs and fennel ingestion on ovarian diabetically induced senile rats.Materials & Methods: 24 senile female albino rats were used in this study. They were divided into 4 equal groups: control group, diabetic group, diabetic/MSCs group and diabetic/ MSCs /fennel oil group. Treatments were continued for 8 weeks, and ovarian samples were collected for histological, immunohistochemical and ultrastructure studies.Blood glucose levels were estimated and serum hormonal analyses were performed.Results: Induction of diabetes caused variable sizes of typical ovarian follicular cysts and elevation of blood glucose level. Stem cell transplantation showed some amelioration in the ovarian structure and blood glucose level. Administration of both MSCs and fennel oil had the ability to lower the blood glucose level and restore ovarian structure in diabetic rats.Conclusion: The use of MSCs in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering makes them a promising therapy to treat diabetes mellitus complications. Fennel essential oil could be given to diabetic patients to ameliorate diabetes in addition to its use as a fertility enhancing agent.

Introduction: Postmenopausal obesity sounds an alarm for women’s health, since it serves as a predominant risk factor for many chronic diseases leading to reduced life expectancy and increased health problems.The relation between menopausal status and diabetes mellitus remains controversial. Reproductive tract dysfunction is a recognized consequence of diabetes obesity syndrome (DOS). Therefore, a possible association between obesity, diabetes mellitus and abnormalities of female reproductive function in several respects may occur.Nowadays traditional medicinal plants and spices are commonly used for their possible effects as hypoglycaemic, antidiabetic and folliculogenic agents instead of using synthetic drugs.Aim: The objective of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic implication of fennel ingestion in ovarian changes in diabetically induced senile rats.Materials and Methods: A total of 24 senile female albino rats were divided into 4 equal groups: control group, fennel oil receiving group, diabetic group and diabetic/fennel oil ingested group. Treatments were continued for 8 weeks, then ovarian samples were collected from all rats for histological, immunohistochemical and ultra-structural studies. Blood glucose levels were measured to confirm hyperglycemia and to follow the disease progression. Serum analyses for hormonal assay were also estimatedResults: STZ injection caused typical ovarian follicular cysts of variable sizes together with elevation of blood glucose level. Fennel oil administration to diabetes-induced group showed some amelioration in the ovarian structure and blood glucose level.Conclusion: Fennel essential oil could ameliorate diabetes with its use as a fertility enhancing agent. Fennel has folliculogenesis effect consistent with its use in folk medicine as a fertility enhancing agent.

The effects of different concentrations of marjoram oil, thyme oil, (1%, 0.5%, and 0.25%) and their botanical extracts (2%, 1%, and 0.5%) as a nutritional additives offered to silkworm larvae during the 4th and 5th larval instars on food consumption, Approximate weight of digested food (A.D), Approximate digestibility (A.D%), efficiency of conversion of food ingested to body substance (E.C.I%), and efficiency of conversion of food digested to body substance (E.C.D%) were studied. Also, to determine their effects on total carbohydrates and total protein in larval haemolymph. Results showed significant variation in most of the studied parameters of oils and botanical extracts different concentrations compared to control; E.C.D% was found maximum with 0.5% marjoram oil (74.995%) and thyme oil (71.465%), in the botanical extracts 2% of both thyme, and marjoram exhibited the highest ratio (63.170% and 60.975%), respectively compared with control which recorded the minimum (38.830%). The efficiency with which the ingested food is converted into body substances (E.C.I%) 0.5% of marjoram and thyme oils showed the highest efficiency of conversion (21.000% and 20.555%), respectively compared to (13.445%) for the control. 2% of both thyme (19.960%) and marjoram extract (18.845%) showed also the highest ECI% while the control recorded the least result. The highest AD% was shown by control group (43.185%) and AD of the control group exhibited the highest among them (3.400 gm). Results revealed a significant variation between the both larval instars in most parameters. The quantity of food consumed in both oils and extracts varied significantly between the both instars with no significant values among different concentrations of them. Total protein exhibited the highest value when feeding larvae on mulberry leaves supplemented with 0.5% of both marjoram and thyme oils (41.067 and 39.867 mg/ml haemolymph), respectively, and 2% of both thyme and marjoram extracts (36.9 and 36.567 mg/ml haemolymph), respectively while the control group showed the minimum value (22.633 mg/ml haemolymph). The same trend was observed for total carbohydrates. It can be concluded that mulberry leaves fortified with different concentrations of marjoram and thyme oils and extracts were proved to be more efficient in rearing mulberry silkworm as it improved food acquisition, high ingestion, high (E.C.I & E.C.D) and low (A.D),also it increased protein and carbohydrates metabolism.

The effect of six plant essential oils against three stored grain insects, Sitophilus oryzae, Rhizopertha dominica andTribolium castaneum were studied under laboratory conditions. The tested oils are namely, fennel oil (Foeniculumvulgare), caraway oil (Carum carvi), cinnamon oil (Cinnamomum verum), citronella oil (Cymbopogon winterianus),nutmeg oil (Myristica fragrans) and black cumin oil (Nigella sativa). The result showed that increasing of the oilconcentration and exposure times significantly increased the mortality percentage.Generally, the toxicity of essential oils at all tested concentrations increased with the increasing of exposure time. So,the results indicated that toxicity of all tested essential oil against the three stored grain insects at the high concentrationwas recorded high mortality faster than low concentration.The tested essential oils significantly decreased the different haemocyte counts in tested insects, cinnamon oilmarkedly increased the haemocyte surface areas in the tested insects especially the surface area of oenocytoides in T.castaneum.The recorded results indicate that the essential oils of fennel, caraway, cinnamon and citronella could be applicable tothe management of S. oryzae, R. dominica and T. castaneum adults.

Activity of commercially and purified essential oils of aloes, anise, black cumin, caraway, carna-tion, cumin, fennel, garlic, jojoba, lavender, onion, rue and thyme were tested against growth of Pseudomonas syringae pv. lachrymans, caused bacterial angular leaf spot disease of cucumber, in vitro and in vivo. Three essential oils had an inhib-itory effect, based on the determination of the min-imum inhibitory concentrations (MICs 0.25-2.0%). Carnation, fennel and thyme were inhibito-ry at MIC 0.5%. The three mentioned oils showed considerable variation in the inhibitory effect by the disk diffusion method, though the recognized similarity in fumigation treatments. The greatest activity was recorded with thyme (18mm) followed by carnation (15 mm) while fennel showed the low-est effect (9mm). Soaking cucumber seeds of differ-ent cultivars in 2% emulsified oils for a period rang-ing from 0.25 to 4 hours significantly decreased the percentage of germination. Shorter duration of seed soaking, 0.25 to 0.5 hours, showed lower deleterious effect on germination and fennel oil showed greater harmful effect. In greenhouse experiments, the three oils significantly controlled the disease incidence compared to the check treatment, being more pro-nounced for thyme oil followed by fennel and carna-tion oils. Analysis of the essential oils in concern showed eugenol, dieugenol, linolenic acid, methyl chavicol (estragol), anisole and thymol, as an active ingredients.