en Anatomical Sciences Anatomical Sciences Original Research Original Research <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif"><span style="font-style:italic"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">Background: </span></span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">Urtica dioica (UD), as a natural antioxidant, has positive effects on oocyte maturation. This study aimed to investigate the effects of hydro-alcoholic UD extract and retinoic acid on follicular development in an in vitro fertilization (IVF) condition.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif"><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>Methods:</b> A total of 40 female Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: group 1 received normal saline, group 2 was given 25 mg/kg retinoic acid, group 3 was administered with 100 mg/kg UD extract, group 4 was treated with retinoic acid plus UD extract, and group 5 received 10 mg/kg olive oil. The histomorphometric parameters were analyzed, including the number of follicles, follicular atrophy, fertilized oocytes, 2-cell embryos, dead embryos, and blastocysts. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif"><span style="font-style:italic"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">&nbsp;&nbsp; Results:</span></span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal"> Retinoic acid caused a significant increase in the primary, preantral, and atretic follicles and a substantial decrease in the corpus luteum compared with the control group (</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt">p</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal"><0.001). The number of preantral, antral follicles, and corpus luteum was significantly higher in group 3 compared with group 1 (</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt">p</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal"><0.001). Moreover, coadministration of UD plus retinoic acid (group 4) significantly reduced the atretic follicles (</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt">p</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal"><0.05).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif"><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">&nbsp; &nbsp;<b>Conclusion: </b>Based on the results, UD herbal extract, as a natural antioxidant agent, could reduce the adverse effects of retinoic acid on oocyte maturation in an IVF condition.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> &nbsp; Histology, Urtica Dioica, Retinoic Acid, Fertilization, Phytomedicine 1 8 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-7860-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Saade Abdalkareem Jasim saade.a.j@uoa.edu.iq 200319475328460075921 200319475328460075921 No Al-Maarif University College, Medical Laboratory Techniques Department, Al-anbar-Ramadi, Iraq Sana Abdul-Jabbar Ali sana.a.ali@alsafwa.edu.iq 200319475328460075922 200319475328460075922 No Pharmacy Department, Al-Safwa University College, Karbalaa, Iraq Osama Q. Fadhil osamah.qays1400@gmail.com 200319475328460075923 200319475328460075923 Yes Pharmacy Department, Al-Safwa University College, Karbalaa, Iraq Muqaddas Kh. Rakhmatova author.uzb@mail.ru 200319475328460075924 200319475328460075924 No Department of Histology and Medical Biology, Tashkent State Dental Institute, Makhtumkuli Street 103, Tashkent, Uzbekistan Hamzah H. Kzar hamza.hashim@vet.uoqasim.edu.iq 200319475328460075925 200319475328460075925 No Veterinary Medicine College, Al-Qasim Green University, Al-Qasim, Iraq Ria Margiana margianaria@gmail.com 200319475328460075926 200319475328460075926 No Department of Anatomy, & Master's Programme Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, & Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia Moaed E. Al-Gazally moaedalgazaly@gmail.com 200319475328460075927 200319475328460075927 No College of Medicine, University of Al-Ameed, Karbala, Iraq Abduladheem Turki Jalil abedalazeem799@gmail.com 200319475328460075928 200319475328460075928 No Medical Laboratories Techniques Department, Al-Mustaqbal University College, Babylon, Hilla, 51001, Iraq Zaid Hameed Mahmood zaidhameed_91@yahoo.com 200319475328460075929 200319475328460075929 No Diyala University, College of Science, Department of Chemistry, Iraq Surendar Aravindhan Surendararavindhan@ieee.org 200319475328460075930 200319475328460075930 No Department of Pharmacology, Saveetha Dental College and Hospital, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, India Yasser Fakri Mustafa Dr.yassermustafa@uomosul.edu.iq 200319475328460075931 200319475328460075931 No Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, University of Mosul, Mosul-41001, Iraq Mohammed Q. Sultan mohammed.alkhuzaie@alayen.edu.iq 200319475328460075932 200319475328460075932 No College of Dentistry, Al-Ayen University, Thi-Qar, Iraq