Atefeh Araghi
1, Hannaneh Golshahi
2, Farshad Baghban
3, Mohaddeseh Abouhosseini Tabari
1* 
1 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Amol University of Special Modern Technologies, Amol, Iran
2 Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
3 Department of Veterinary Medicine, Yasooj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yasooj, Iran
Abstract
Introduction: Cyclophosphamide is an alkylating agent with antineoplastic and immunosuppressive effects. Acrolein, one of its metabolites, is responsible for different toxic side effects such as oxidative stress, and cell death. The present study aimed to evaluate protective effects of farnesol, a natural terpenoid with antioxidant effects, on cyclophosphamide induced side effects.Methods: For this purpose, mice received 200 mg/kg of cyclophosphamide plus 5 or 10 mg/kg of farnesol as pretreatment for 7 days. At the end of the study, samples from blood and different organs were collected. Histopathological and biochemical analyses including malondialdehyde (MDA), catalase (CAT) and glutathione (GSH) content as well as alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were done to determine the toxic effects of cyclophosphamide and probable protective effect of farnesol.Results: Application of farnesol as a pretreatment could reduce tissue damages induced by cyclophosphamide particularly in testis, liver and spleen. The kidney did not show any relapse in tissue damages induced by cyclophosphamide. The testis demonstrated the most improvement by administration of farnesol, and the anti-oxidant enzymes increased in testicular tissues.Conclusion: This study indicated the protective effect of farnesol against oxidative stress induced by cyclophosphamide in the tissues, especially at the dose of 10 mg/kg on the testicular tissue. Hence, it might be beneficial in patients who are using cyclophosphamide.