Anti-infertility roles of flavonoids: insights into the female reproductive system

Female infertility is a complex and multifactorial disease affecting millions of women worldwide, wherein oxidative stress and inflammation play major roles in its pathophysiology. Flavonoids, a class of polyphenolic compounds derived from plants, show promise in alleviating infertility-related disorders such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, and uterine implantation abnormalities. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of flavonoids can be useful in overcoming oxidative damage and disturbances of inflammatory conditions within the reproductive system. Key flavonoids, including quercetin and apigenin, have demonstrated the ability to regulate hormonal imbalances, enhance follicular development, and improve oocyte quality. Flavonoids may also act by interacting with essential inflammatory and hormonal pathways to suppress the synthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokines while increasing antioxidant defenses. The integration of flavonoid-based strategies with conventional treatments opens up promising avenues in improving reproductive outcomes and advancing fertility therapies. This review will highlight the molecular mechanisms underlying the efficacy of flavonoids and point out their potential as nutraceutical interventions in the management of female infertility. Similar content being viewed by others Data availability No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

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The Student Research Committee of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences supported this study under Grant Number 76163. Funding The authors have not disclosed any funding. Author information Authors and Affiliations Contributions MA, design the study and writing the original draft; HK, AJ, and AK, contributed to the literature search and data collection; AA, project administration, supervision, and conceptualization. Corresponding authors Ethics declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Consent for publication Not applicable. Additional information Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Rights and permissions Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law. About this article Cite this article Abdi, M., Karimzadeh, H., Jourabchi, A. et al. Anti-infertility roles of flavonoids: insights into the female reproductive system. Mol Biol Rep 52, 495 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-025-10579-z Received: Accepted: Published: Version of record: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-025-10579-z