Pharmacological evaluation of Dactylorhiza Hatagirea against cyclophosphamide-induced reproductive toxicity in male wistar rats

D. hatagirea (DH) is a species belonging to the Orchidaceae family predominantly found in higher altitude regions such as the Himalayas,, which is reported to possess several biological properties such as anti-oxidant, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory potential. Cyclophosphamide (CP) is a commonly used chemotherapeutic drug that is reported to cause severe reproductive toxicity due to oxidative stress induction. The current study aims at evaluating the effect of DH root extract on mitigating reproductive toxicity induced via CP administration using male wistar rats owing to its previously reported antioxidant potential. Briefly, sequential extraction of DH root was performed using petroleum ether, chloroform and ethanol, followed by its phytochemical evaluation. Biochemical evaluation of the ethanolic DH extract showed optimum antioxidant potential compared to other extracts. Further, in vivo evaluation of the effect of DH extract on CP-induced reproductive toxicity was conducted using varyingdosages of 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg for 4 weeks and 8 weeks time periods. Our results indicate the efficacy of DH extract by the restoration of tissue in CP-induced damage post 8 weeks of administration with 200 mg/kg DH treatment. Moreover, an elevated level of testosterone with respect to vehicle control in 4 and 8 weeks of 200 mg/kg DH treatment was also observed, which suggests the ability of DH root extract to elevate reproductive capacity in animals. An increase of 163.37 % and 116.25 % w.r.t. control was observed for testosterone and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) was obtained. An up-regulation of antioxidant enzyme catalase (CAT) and down-regulation of malondialdehyde (MDA) levels suggest the possible mode of action of DH extract towards mitigating the toxic effects of CP administration in the test groups. Thus, our study proposes DH root extract as a potential therapeutic agent to mitigate CP-induced reproductive damage.