Background and purpose: Diabetes is one of the major factors that affects fertility and ovulation and can disrupt the formation of fetus. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids might be able to improve the quality of the embryo in maturation of oocytes. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of omega-3 on ovarian tissue and the development of blastocysts in diabetic rats.

Materials and methods: In this study, 32 adult female rats were divided into 4 groups (n= 8 per group) including controls, diabetic, diabetic+ Omega-3 (300mg/kg /day), and diabetic+ Omega-3 (600mg/kg/day). Diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injections of Streptozotocin (50 mg/kg). Omega-3 was administered by gavage for 45 days. Then PMSG (IU, IP25) was injected and 54 hours later HCG (IU, IP25) was injected. Afterwards, the ovarian samples were used in vitro fertilization.

Results: Compared with the control group, diabetes significantly reduced the percentage of healthy follicles, percentage of zygote, two cell embryos, blastocysts, and hatching embryos (P<0.05). Data analysis revealed that administration of omega-3 fatty acids in diabetic rats increased the percentage of healthy follicles and parameters associated with fertilization and embryo development in vitro compared with the diabetic group that did not receive omega-3 (P< 0.05).

Conclusion: Due to the harmful effects of diabetes on pregnancy, omega-3 fatty acids has the ability to inhibit the adverse effects of diabetes on the ovaries, thereby increasing the chances of fertility.