Protective Effect of Tribulus Terrestris Hydroalcoholic Extract against Cisplatin – Induce Apoptisis on Testis in Mice

introduction: cisplatin is an anti-cancer drug used in chemotherapy. one of the limitingside effects of cisplatin is decreasing genital gland function, azoospermia and oligospermia.tribulus terrestris (tt) has been used as an aphrodisiac. the present study amid to investigatethe protective effect of tt hydroalcoholic extract against cisplatin-induced apoptisis on testisin mice.methods: male adult mice (n=30) were divided into control group and 4 experimental groups(n=6). control group reicived saline, the first experimental group received cisplatin (5.5 mg/kg) and other three experimental groups received cisplatin (5.5mg/kg) and different dosesof hydroalcoholic extact of tt (100, 300 and 500 mg/kg/i.p) resepctively. day after the lastinjection, histopathology and histomorphic analysis and also tunel assay on mice’s testiswere performed. weights of body and testis, seminiferous tubules diameter and apoptotic indexwere assessed. data analysis was performed using one-way anova followed by turkeys’ test.results: the results showed that cisplatin leaded to a reduction in the weight of body and testes,and increased apoptotic index significantly compared to the control group (p<0.001), while intreated groups with tt, the weights of body and testis and seminiferous tubules diameter weresignificantly higher compared with cisplatin group (p<0.001), but apoptotic index did not showsignificant differences.conclusion: the study demonstrates that extract of tt could have protective effect oncisplatin- induced apoptosis of testis and seminiferous tubules diameter that may be relatedto the presence of antioxidant components acting via a multitude of central and peripheralmechanisms.