Table 6.

Effect of honeybee products on assisted reproductive techniques (ARTs) in females.

Animal Species.	Treatment/Honeybee Product	Result	Suggested Mode of Action
Sheep [119]	Grade A and B oocytes cultured for 24 h in IVM supplemented with 0, 5, 10, and 20% honey	At 5%, improved percentage of metaphase II stage oocytes and glutathione concentration values	Antioxidant activity and gene expression modulatory effect
Goats [117]	2.5, 5, and 10 mg/mL of royal jelly to oocyte IVM media	At 5 mg/mL, increased percentage of blastocysts and decreased the apoptotic cells per blastocyst At 5 and 10 mg/mL, expression profile of Bax and p53 was down-regulated, while Bcl-2 was up-regulated	The positive effect of essential amino acids (cystine, lysine, and arginine), sugars (fructose, glucose, and sucrose), vitamins (A, B5, C, D, and E), and lipids Estrogenic activity of fatty acids and sterols
Sheep [118]	0, 2.5, 5, and 10 mg/mL of royal jelly to oocyte IVM media	At 10 mg/mL, increased percentage of metaphase II stage oocytes, intracellular GSH content, fertilization, blastocyst rate, and expression of PFK in liver and muscles and G6PDH genes in cumulus cells

Bax: Bcl2-associated X protein, Bcl-2: B-cell leukaemia/lymphoma gene-2, COCs: cumulus–oocyte complexes, caspase-3: intracellular peptides associated apoptosis, G6PDH: glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, IVM: in vitro maturation, mg: milligram, mL: milli, P₅₃: apoptotic-induced, PFK: phosphofructokinase.