Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

Background: Busulfan is drug of choice for treatment of certain cancers with well-known side effects. Infertility and testes tissue damage are known side effects. There is still no effective therapy to reduce these effects. Melatonin is a potent antioxidant with protective effects on certain tissues. The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effects of exogenous melatonin on busulfan induced oigospermia and fertility of pinealectomized rat.

Methods: Sixty adult Wistar rats weighing 250-300 gr were used in this study. The animals were randomly divided into 6 groups: control, busulfan treatment, busulfan vehicle treatment, pinealectomized with busulfan and melatonin treatment, surgical sham, pinealectomized with busulfan and melatonin vehicle. Pinealectomy was done. Intraperitoneal injections of single dose of busulfan (20mg/kg) and melatonin (0.5mg/kg) for 50 days were administered. Animals were sacrificed and sperm parameters including sperm motility, count and morphology was evaluated. IVF technique was used to determine sperm fertility. The data were analyzed and presented in mean ± SD, Pv less than 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: Busulfan significantly reduced sperm count, motility and fertility. It also caused sperm morphological changes (p<0.05). Melatonin treatment recovers the effects of busulfan on sperm parameters but not the fertility feature.

Conclusions: Based on our results melatonin therapy might be useful to treat certain reproductive dysfunction in male followed by chemotherapy.