PREVENTIVE ROLE OF OCIMUM BASILICUM AGAINST CYCLOPHOSPHAMIDE INDUCED PRIMORDIAL FOLLICULAR ATROPHY IN ADULT FEMALE ALBINO RATS

Background: Cyclophosphamide, the alkylating chemotherapeutic drug is commonly used in treatment against wide variety of carcinomas. This drug has known antifertility effects on gonads of young female patients. A natural herb known as Ocimum Basilicum has been found rich in polyphenols and is known to significantly improve fertility because its strong antioxidant potential. Objectives: To assess the preventive ability of the natural herb, Ocimum basilicum extract against atrophic changes induced by cyclophosphamide in primordial follicles. Methods: Total number of female albino rats used was 45. All were evenly distributed into three groups: Group A was control, group B and group C were experimental. There were 15 rats present in each one of these groups. On the 8th day of the experiment, rats in group A were administered a single intraperitoneal injection of normal saline (150 mg/kg). Group B rats were administered, on day 8 of experiment, a single intraperitoneal injection of cyclophosphamide (150 mg/kg). Rats in group C were fed with methanolic extract of basil seeds for 7 days. After that, rats were injected with a single intraperitoneal dose (150 mg/kg) of cyclophosphamide on day 8. The rats were euthanized and dissected after 48 hours of administration of cyclophosphamide. Results: Results showed the significant improvement in state of primordial follicles between groups B and C (p-value 0.003), in terms of number of rats showing atrophic primordial follicles i.e., 11 rats (80%) in experimental group B and only 4 (26.7%) in experimental group C.