Cancer in various organs increases gradually and, although
many patients recover from cancer, it is one of main causes of human
death. Anticancer agents are useful for the treatment of cancer
but these are associated with various adverse effects. The adverse
effects of these anticancer agents on the reproductive system are
especially severe, and they are one of the main causes of male
sterility. Therefore, much research has been performed to develop
functional foods or medicines to alleviate or reduce adverse effects
induced by anticancer agents. Previous reports have suggested that
the ginseng total saponin fraction attenuated cisplatin-induced
nausea and vomiting in animal studies [9,10]. In the present
study, we have shown that KRGE attenuated busulfan-induced
damage to the male reproductive system. These results indicate
that KRGE might have an efficacy for the attenuation of anticancer
agent-induced adverse effects and that KRGE might be a novel
candidate for developing drugs that reduce the adverse effects
induced by busulfan.
However, pretreatment with KRGE did not completely prevent
busulfan-induced damage to the male reproductive system.
Therefore, if KRGE is used with other agents that attenuate the
adverse effects of anticancer agents, it might be possible to achieve
additive or synergic effects for reduction of the adverse effects of
anticancer agents. In this study, it was also observed that compared
with vehicle control, treatment with busulfan alone caused profound
atrophy and histological damage to the testis (Fig. 2),