Reperfusion Reverses the Torsion-Induced Apoptosis in a Time Dependent Manner; Evidence for Caspase-3 down-regulation

Background: Previously conducted studies have been shown that the testicular torsion (TT) is known as an important urological emergency, which adversely effects testicular tissue by multi-pathophysiological pathways in a duration and degree manner, and finally results in male infertility. Additionally, it has been illustrated that, reperfusion is the only emergency intervention to treat this syndrome. Thus, the current study tried to show the impacts of reperfusion on torsion-induced pathogenesis by evaluating testicular tissue damage, apoptosis ratio, and Caspase-3 gene expression. Methods: To follow up, 30 male mature Wistar rats (NO=6 rats in each group) were used. Following 4 hours from torsion induction, the reperfusion was induced. Then, the animals were subdivided into; 2 hours torsion-induced (T2), (b) 1 hour post-reperfusion (T2R1), 2 hours post-reperfusion (T2R2), 4 hours post-reperfusion (T2R4) and 8 hours post-reperfusion (T2R8) groups. The seminiferous tubules differentiation (TDI) and spermiogenesis (SPI) indices were evaluated and compared between groups. Moreover, the Caspase-3+ cell numbers per mm2 of tissue was assessed using immunohistochemical staining. On the other hand, the apoptosis ratio were analyzed and compared between groups using Image-pro-Insight software. Results: Observations showed that, although the reperfusion (albeit after 8 hours in T2R8 group) remarkably (P<0.05) enhanced tubular TDI and SPI ratio versus T1 group, the Caspase-3 expression analysis did not exhibit significant differences between groups. Conclusion: Considering that the Caspase-3 is the finisher protein in the apoptosis pathways, a minimum of 8 hours, post-reperfusion is needed to ameliorate the torsion-induced pathological damages in testicular tissue.

Keywords:

Torsion , Reperfusion , Apoptosis , Caspase-3 , Rat