Investigating the Effects of Vitamin C and Inositol on Ovarian and Uterine Damage Caused by Cisplatin in Rats

Background and

Cisplatin is one of the widely used chemotherapeutics, that directly affects the ovaries and uterus leading to infertility. This study aimed to investigate the effects of inositol and vitamin C on cisplatin-induced damage to ovarian follicles and uterine histopathology.

Fifty-six adult Wistar female rats were divided into eight equal groups (N=7) including negative control (oral normal saline/intraperitoneal normal saline), positive control (normal saline/cisplatin), T1 (vitamin C/cisplatin), T2 (inositol/cisplatin), T3 (vitamin C and inositol/cisplatin), T4 (vitamin C/normal saline), T5 (inositol/normal saline), and T6 (vitamin C and inositol/normal saline). The vitamin C and inositol were administered orally for 21 days. Cisplatin was injected intraperitoneally on the 15th day (7 mg/kg). On the day 22, the animals were euthanized, the uterus and ovaries removed, then the number of ovarian follicles and the uterine histopathology were examined.

After cisplatin treatment, the number of healthy ovarian follicles (primordial and antral) significantly decreased (P<0.05) compared to the negative control group. However, all of the atretic follicles increased compared to the negative control (P<0.05). Treatment with vitamin C and inositol increased the number of healthy follicles, effectively reduced the number of atretic follicles, and improved the damage induced by cisplatin in the uterine tissue.

Treatment with vitamin C and inositol has a protective effect on the ovaries and uterus against the toxicity caused by cisplatin.