Ethanol-Extracted Cameroonian Propolis Counteracts Tamoxifen-Induced Endometrial Hyperplasia by Modulating Apoptosis and Proliferation-Regulating Proteins in the Ovaries of Intact Wistar Rats

Table 2

Effects of ethanol-extracted Cameroonian propolis on the ovaries of intact rats exposed to tamoxifen.

Items	NOR	Tamox	Ful + Tamox	EECP (mg/kg) + Tamox
				16.5	50	150
Types of follicles
Primary follicle	4 ± 1.63	16 ± 0^###	3 ± 0.81	2 ± 0.63	0 ± 0	2 ± 0.63
Secondary follicle	0.93 ± 0.58	6 ± 1.14^###	4.84 ± 0.65	4.88 ± 1.14	6.85 ± 1.55	5 ± 0.26
Tertiary follicle	3 ± 0.81	2.33 ± 0.68	4.5 ± 0.94	1.4 ± 0.4	1.62 ± 0.21	1.4 ± 0.4
De Graaf follicle	2 ± 0.36	1.6 ± 0.6	2.2 ± 0.58	2 ± 0	1.12 ± 0.11	2.8 ± 0.66
Corpora lutea	6.25 ± 1.47	1.75 ± 0.42^##	4.74 ± 1.33	1 ± 0	2.25 ± 0.56	5.2 ± 1.01
Cysts
Number of rats with cysts	0/6	2/6	0/6	2/6	2/6	1/6

NOR: rats treated with distilled water as normal control; Tamox: rats treated with tamoxifen only at the dose of 10 mg/kg BW as negative control; Ful: rats treated with the pure antiestrogen fulvestrant at the dose of 300 μg/kg BW as positive control; EECP: rats treated with the ethanol-extracted propolis from Cameroon at doses of 16.5, 50, and 150 mg/kg BW as test groups. All rats apart from those of the normal group (NOR) were concomitantly administered tamoxifen at the dose of 10 mg/kg BW for 8 weeks to induce endometrial hyperplasia. Significance compared to NOR group: , ; significance compared to Tamox group: , .