Effects of hypothermia and pentoxifylline on the adnexal torsion/detorsion injuries in a rat testis model

Phoenixin-14 may ameliorate testicular damage caused by torsion-detorsion by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation in prepubertal rats

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of Phoenixin-14 (PNX-14) on oxidative damage, inflammatory response, histopathological variations, and serum testosterone levels in testicular tissues. Forty-eight Wistar albino prepubertal male rats were divided into 4 groups (Sham, TTD, TT+PNX+TD, TTD+PNX) (n=12). The torsion period was 2 hours and the detorsion period was 24 hours in the testicular torsion/detorsion (TD) groups. A single PNX-14 (50 µg/kg) dose was injected into the rats in the TT+PNX TD group on the 90th minute of torsion, and it was injected into the rats in the TTD+PNX group at the beginning of detorsion. Oxidative damage in testicular tissues was determined based on superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant status (TAS) and total oxidant status (TOS), and inflammatory damage was determined based on TNF-α and IL-6 levels. Histopathological variations were investigated with the Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS) staining method in testicular tissues and analyzed based on Johnsen scores. Spermatogonia cells were examined immunohistochemically. Serum testosterone levels were determined with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). A significant increase in oxidative stress and inflammation parameters was determined in the TTD group when compared to the other groups (p<0.05). PNX-14 treatment led to a statistically significant decrease in these parameters and significantly repaired the TD damage in testicular tissue (p<0.05). Johnsen scoring revealed significant improvement in PNX-14 groups and an increase in spermatogonia count, supporting the biochemical findings (p<0.05). PNX-14 could be a potential therapeutic agent in testicular TD damage and further studies should be conducted to elucidate the present study findings.

Pathophysiology and management of testicular ischemia/reperfusion injury: Lessons from animal models

Testicular torsion is a urological emergency that involves the twisting of the spermatic cord along its course. Compelling pieces of evidence have implicated oxidative stress-sensitive signaling in pathogenesis of testicular I/R injury. Although, surgical detorsion is the mainstay management; blockade of the pathways involved in the pathogenesis may improve the surgical outcome. Experimental studies using various testicular I/R models have been reported in a bid to explore the mechanisms associated with testicular I/R and evaluate the benefits of potential therapeutic measures; however, most are limited by their shortcomings. Thus, this review was intended to describe the details of the available testicular I/R models as well as their merits and drawbacks, the pathophysiological basis and consequences of testicular I/R, and the pharmacological agents that have being proposed to confer testicular benefits against testicular I/R. This provides an understanding of the pathophysiological events and available models used in studying testicular I/R. In addition, this research provides evidence-based molecules with therapeutic potentials as well as their mechanisms of action in testicular I/R.