Abstract
Background and objectives Cyclophosphamide (CP) is widely used as a chemotherapy drug for the treatment of malignant tumors and autoimmune diseases, but it has strong toxic and side effects and can cause permanent damage to the ovaries, which affects women's quality of life. This study aimed to investigate the anti-premature ovarian failure protective effect of allantoin isolated from Dioscorea opposita Thunb. Methods Firstly, 75 mg/kg CP was injected into rats to establish an in vivo model of premature ovarian failure (POF). The POF rats were divided into the normal control group (NC), premature ovarian failure group (POF), and POF group treated with allantoin (ALL I 140 mg/kg and ALL II 70 mg/kg, daily 21 days). It investigated the estrous cycles, hormone levels, apoptosis rate, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitophagy, and protein marker (Bax, Bcl2, LC3B, L-1β, caspase-1 and NLRP3). Results The results indicated that allantoin alleviated cyclophosphamide-induced premature ovarian failure in female rats, decreased the anoestrum, increased the level of estradiol (E2), and decreased the levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), decreased apoptosis rate, MMP, mitophagy and ROS in ovarian granulosa cells of POF rats, down-regulated L-1β, caspase-1, LC3B-II/LC3B-I in ovarian tissue, and up-regulated the Bcl2 and NLRP3. Conclusions Our study revealed the ovarian-protective effect of allantoin in CP-induced premature ovarian failure for the first time, the effect was achieved through attenuation of the apoptosis, autophagy, and pyroptosis. The study underlines the potential clinical application of allantoin as a protectant agent for premature ovarian failure.