Giving rats a traditional herbal supplement called shilajit for 4 days before radiation exposure helped protect their ovaries by reducing cell death signals that normally get turned on by radiation.

When rats were given shilajit before radiation treatment, their ovaries showed lower levels of proteins that trigger cell death, suggesting shilajit might help prevent radiation from killing egg cells.

When researchers looked at the ovaries of rats under a microscope, they saw less evidence of cell death signals in the rats that received shilajit before radiation compared to rats that only got radiation.

Radiation harms ovaries by causing egg cells to die through programmed cell death and by creating DNA damage and harmful molecules, and shilajit's natural antioxidant properties might help fight against these damaging processes.

Rats that received shilajit before radiation exposure maintained healthier ovarian structures with more normal egg cells compared to rats that only received radiation, with this difference being statistically significant.

Shilajit is a traditional herbal supplement that contains natural antioxidants and has been shown in previous studies to support egg cell development, which might explain why it helps protect ovaries from radiation damage.