Prevention of cyclophosphamide-induced hepatotoxicity and genotoxicity: Effect of an l-cysteine based oxovanadium(IV) complex on oxidative stress and DNA damage

•Cyclophosphamide (CP) therapy leads to hepatotoxicity and genotoxicity.•Chemoprotective effect of an l-cysteine based oxovanadium(IV) complex was studied.•The complex quite promisingly ameliorated CP-induced toxicities in mice.•The complex showed efficient free radicals scavenging and antioxidant property.•Thus, this study confers possible future use of the vanadium complex in chemotherapy.

Vanadium has been emerged as a promising agent owing to its ability to prevent several types of cancer. This study was aimed to investigate the protective role of an organovanadium complex, viz., oxovanadium(IV)-l-cysteine methyl ester (VC-IV) against cyclophosphamide (CP)-induced hepatotoxicity and genotoxicity in mice. Oral administration of VC-IV quite effectively ameliorated CP-induced histopathological lesions and reduced levels of alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase and alkaline phosphatase. In addition, VC-IV significantly attenuated CP-induced oxidative stress in the liver as evident from levels of reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide and lipid peroxidation. Restoration of glutathione level and activities of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione-S-transferase) were also observed upon VC-IV administration. Moreover, VC-IV significantly mitigated CP-induced chromosomal aberrations, micronuclei formation, DNA fragmentation and apoptosis in bone marrow cells and DNA damage in lymphocytes. The present study showed that VC-IV could provide adequate protection against CP-induced hepatotoxicity and genotoxicity in vivo.