Abstract

Nowadays impact of cell-phone RF on human health is subject of many researches. Antioxidant properties of hydroalcoholic extract of Urtica dioica (UD) have been proven to eliminate free radicals and oxidative stress. Purpose of this study was to assess the impacts of cell-phone RF on in-vitro fertility (IVF) rate and role of the UD extract against induced the RF damages. A total number of 54 adult, male NMRI mice were randomly divided into six equal groups randomly; control group, RF-irradiation alone (2hrs a day for 28days), those received only 50mg/kg UD, 50mg/kg UD plus RF-irradiation, only 100mg/kg UD, and 100mg/kg UD plus RFirradiation. The UD was intraperitoneally injected 1hr before RF-irradiation. IVF performed 1day after the last RF-irradiation. Chromatin integrity in sperm DNA evaluated by acridine orange staining. Finally, frequency and morphology of the embryos were assessed. ANOVA and Tukey's tests applied for statistical analysis. RF-irradiation alone significantly decreased frequency of two-cell embryos (p=0.000) and grade-A embryos (p=0.014); while it significantly increased the dead embryos (p=0.001) and grade-B (p=0.033), grade-C (p=0.017) and grade-D embryos (p=0.008). RF-irradiation alone led to significant genetically damages in DNA chromatin (p=0.000). Injection of 100mg/kg UD increased significantly frequency of the two-cell embryos (p=0.01) and grade-A embryos (p=0.018); where it significantly reduced the dead embryos (p=0.026), grade-C (p=0.026) and grade-D embryos (p= 0.038). Cell-phone RF can change number of two-cell mouse embryo as well as embryo's morphology and induces molecular damages in the DNA of the sperm. Moreover, UD extract plays a protective role against RF induced damages.