Zahra Rafiee - Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
Mehri Azadbakht - Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran

Chemotherapy drugs have temporary or permanent damage effects on testis in males. Doxorubicin is one of the most commonly anti-cancer drugs that used for the cure of cancer. This chemotherapy drug is dependent on dose and has an adverse effect on non-target tissue, such as the testis. Aloe vera is a perennial herbaceous cactus-like herb that may keep the testis healthy against the destructive effects of doxorubicin and increase fertility. We studied the protective effect of Aloe vera gel on the damage effects of Doxorubicin on mice testis. For this aim, five-week-old male adult NMRI mice were divided into four groups. Control group: received nothing. Doxorubicin group: doxorubicin was injected 3 times intraperitoneally over a 4 week course (3 mg/kg body weight), Aloe vera group: Received Aloe vera (200 mg/kg body weight) extract daily by intraperitoneal injection and the Aloe vera/doxorubicin group: Doxorubicin and Aloe vera gel in the order mentioned above were injected intraperitoneally. After treatment, sperm analysis showed that doxorubicin decreased sperm count, motility, viability and increased abnormalities compared to the control group (p≤0.05), while Aloe vera increased sperm parameters compared to doxorubicin group (p≤0.05). The results showed that Aloe vera plus doxorubicin would improve all sperm parameters against the adverse effect of doxorubicin (P≤0.05), therefore, we can say that Aloe vera has a protective effect against the tissue damage caused by doxorubicin on the mice testis.

Doxorubicin, Aloe vera, Testis, Sperm, Mice