Nicotine, the primary harmful substance in tobacco, disrupts fertility and the reproductive process. This substance induces cell death by causing oxidative stress in the cells. Autophagy is one of the most essential protective processes of cells It is known against oxidative stress and leads to the removal of harmful agents from the cells. This experimental study randomly divided 20 adult female rats at 8 weeks of age into 2 groups(n=10). The first group received normal saline intraperitoneally as a control. The second group received nicotine with a dose of 0.2 mg/kg body weight was administered intraperitoneally for 6 weeks. After the experiment, all animals were facilitated. Ovarian tissue was frozen at 80 ° C to evaluate the expression of LC3 and P62 genes by Real-time PCR. The results of real-time PCR showed that the expression of autophagy-related genes (LC3 and P62) in the nicotine group had a significant increase compared to the control group (p <0.01). According to this study, it can be concluded that nicotine as a toxic substance increases the incidence of autophagy by causing oxidative stress in ovarian cells.
