| Summary: | Introduction: Ketamine is applied to induce symptoms of schizophrenia in animal models. Besides the nervous system, ketamine also affects male lower genitourinary tracts. The present study evaluated the effects of carvacrol on antioxidant enzymes and examined the histopathologic changes in the testes of ketamine induced schizophrenic mice. Methods: A total of 48 male mice were treated with 25 mg/kg ketamine or saline for a period of 14 days. Between the 8th and 14th days, the animals received carvacrol (25 and 50 mg/kg) or saline. At the end of the experiment, blood samples were taken to measure luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and testosterone; the testes were also collected for biochemical and histopathological evaluations. Results: The results indicated that induction of schizophrenia by ketamine led to an oxidative stress by increasing malondialdehyde (MDA) level (P < 0.05). Treatment with 50 mg/kg carvacrol resulted in significant decrease in oxidative injury by decreasing MDA level and increasing antioxidant enzymes (P < 0.05). Testosterone, FSH and LH levels showed no significant difference between treatment groups and control groups except for testosterone which increased in mice treated with 50 mg/kg carvacrol (P < 0.05). Administration of carvacrol reduced the deleterious histopathologic changes caused by ketamine. Conclusion: The present study showed that ketamine causes oxidative stress and damage in testicular tissues and co-administration with carvacrol prevents the harmful effects of ketamine.
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