The Adverse Effects of Methoxsalen on the Oogenesis of Balb/C Mice

objective: methoxsalen is a natural photoactive compound which is found in many seedplants. a number of epidermal proliferative disorders can be treated by methoxsalen alongwith long wave ultraviolet a (uva). materials and methods: in an experimental study, we aimed to demonstrate the effectof methoxsalen, uva and their combination on oogenesis balb/c mice. there were twoexperimental groups and a control group. the experimental groups were composed of i.a short term group with treatment duration of 15 days and ii. a long term group with treatmentduration of 5 weeks. both the long term and short term experimental groupswerefurthersubdividedinto a uvagroup, a methoxsalen groupand a methoxsalen plusuvagroup.aftertreatment, mature femalesinprosterusphaseofovarian cyclewerescarifiedwithether,while their ovaries were removed and prepared for histological studies.results: both macro and microscopic studies showed significant anomalies (p < 0.05)among experimental group ovaries as compared to control group. the obtained resultsshowed a significant decrease in the following factors: number and diameter ofcorpuslutei, graafian follicles, diameter of granulosa cell layer and oocytes, numberofprimordial،and primary and growing follicles, while we observed an increase innumber of atretic follicle. furthermore, our findings confirmed an increase in thecadiameter only through uva treatment. methoxsalen also reduced circulating estrogenlevels in blood serum, significantly. other cases of teratogenecity, such as follicleswith three oocytes and disorganization in corpus luteum cells were observed. conclusion: the result suggests that uva, methoxsalen and their combination causehealth problems and cell injuries.