Effect of short-term administration of methionine on the ovary and uterus in a rat

Methionine is necessary for development but overuse of it can not only cause growth retardation but also damage organs such as the liver and cardiovascular system. The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of short-term administration of methionine on the ovaries and uterus in a rat. Forty adult female rats were randomly allocated into four equal groups: each received 50, 100 or 200 mg/kg BW l-methionine in 0.5 mL normal saline or just 0.5 mL normal saline (control) intraperitoneally for 20 days. On day 21, all rats were euthanized and tissues were taken for histological evaluation. Also, plasma homocysteine (Hcy) level was assessed in all groups. No difference was observed between the ovaries in all treatment and control groups; however, in methionine-injected groups, some histopathological changes were observed in the uterus such as atrophy in endometrial glands and the presence of inflammatory cells in the endo- and myometrium. Histopathological findings showed uterine infiltration of inflammatory cells in the methionine-injected groups which increased with increasing injected methionine levels. Also, all treatment groups showed increasing homocysteine levels compared to controls. These results show short-term administration of methionine and its associated homocysteinaemia has no effect on the ovary and its follicular structure.