Effect of diazepam, sertraline and melatonin on the stress-induced reproductive disorders and intrauterine growth restriction in female rats

Objective: Psychological stress is an important factor triggering depression and anxiety. Infertility is known to cause stress; however, it is not clearly known whether stress causes infertility as well. In addition, there are different opinions accounting for the relation of stress-induced oxidative stress to infertility and intrauterine growth restriction. The aim of the study is to examine the effect of sertraline, diazepam and melatonin on the infertility, intrauterine growth restriction and oxidative stress that can be caused by forced immobilization stress management (FISM) in female rats. Materials and methods: Wistar rats were grouped as healthy rats (HG) applied distilled water, stress treated control group (SC), and 20 mg/kg sertraline + stress (SS), 2 mg/kg diazepam + stress (DS) and 10 mg/kg melatonin + stress (MS) treated rats. The medicines were administered orally once a day for 30 days. At the end of this period, oxidant/antioxidant parameters were measured through the blood samples collected from the tail veins of all rats. Then the rats were kept in a suitable environment for 2 months for breeding. Results: FISM caused oxidative stress in blood serum of animals, infertility and intrauterine growth restriction (decrease in birth weight of the baby). Best medicines to suppress FISM-related oxidative stress are melatonin > diazepam > sertraline respectively, while sertraline > diazepam > melatonin were most successful in terms of preventing infertility. The best medicines preventing the FISM-caused intrauterine growth restriction were found to be melatonin > diazepam > sertraline, respectively. Conclusion: FISM causes oxidative stress in animals. Oxidative stress is understood to affect the intrauterine growth negatively although it is not a major component in the pathogenesis of infertility. While melatonin is only effective in preventing the oxidative stress-related intrauterine growth restriction, antidepressants and anxiolytic treatment were found to be helpful in preventing both infertility and intrauterine growth restriction.