TÇCD 2012 30th Annual Congress of Turkish Pediatric Surgical Association

Introduction: Testicular torsion can be thought of as an ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury to the testis. There is increasing evidence to suggest that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a role in the pathogenesis of testicular I/R injury. Hence, to prevent I/R injury in testis tissues, effects of various anti-inflammatory/antioxidant agents which act as radical scavenger have been studied recently.However, to our knowledge, no study has investigated the role of carnosine in testicular I/R injury. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the effects of carnosine treatment on pro-oxidant and antioxidant status in testis by performing testis torsion and detorsion in rats.

Methods: Male Wistar albino rats weighing 200-250 g were used in the study. In all the groups except for the sham-operated group, torsions were created by rotating the left testis 720°clockwise for 2 h. After a 2 h torsion period, the left testis was then detorted and replaced in the scrotum for 2 h. Carnosine (CAR; 250 mg/kg, i.p.) was injected 1 h before detorsion. After a detorsion period of 2 h, rats were sacrificed. Malondialdehyde (MDA), diene conjugate (DC), protein carbonyls (PC), glutathione (GSH) and vitamin C  levels were measured in testis tissues as well as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities. Histopathological evaluation was also performed.

Results: MDA, DC and PC levels were significantly increased in I/R group. CAR did not alter MDA levels, but decreased the elevated DC and PC levels. There were no changes in testicular GSH levels, SOD and GPx activities in all groups. However, vitamin C significantly decreased in I/R group, CAR treatment was found to increase vitamin C levels in I/R+CAR as compared to I/R group. Histologically, degeneration, desquamation and disorganization were seen in germinal cells, interstitial oedema and reduction in germinal cell layer numbers were observed in I/R group. CAR treatment ameliorated these findings in testis tissue.

Conclusion: CAR treatment has preventive effect on I/R injury in rat testis. 

Giri?: Testis torsiyonu testiste iskemi-reperfüzyon (I/R) hasar? olu?turmaktad?r. Serbest oksijen radikallerinin I/R hasar?n?n patogenezinde rol oynad???na dair gittikçe artan say?da kan?t bulunmaktad?r.  Bundan hareketle, son y?llarda testis dokusundaki I/R hasar?n? önlemek için, radikal toplay?c? olarak davranan çe?itli anti-inflamatuar/antioksidan ajanlar?n etkileri ara?t?r?lmaktad?r. Ancak, testis I/R hasar?nda karnozinin etkisini ara?t?ran bir çal??ma bulunmamaktad?r. Bu nedenle s?çanlarda testis torsiyonu ve detorsiyonu olu?turarak karnozin tedavisinin prooksidan-antioksidan denge üzerindeki etkilerini incelemeyi amaçlad?k.

Metod: Çal??mada 200-250 g a??rl???nda erkek Wistar albino s?çanlar kullan?ld?. Sham grubu d???ndaki tüm gruplarda torsiyon sol testisi saat yönünde 2 saat süreyle 720º döndürerek olu?turuldu. ?ki saatlik torsiyon süresi sonunda, sol testis detorsiyone edilerek 2 saat süre için tekrar skrotuma yerle?tirildi. Detorsiyondan 1 saat önce 250mg/kg karnozin periton içine verildi. ?ki saatlik detorsiyon süresi sonunda s?çanlar sakrifiye edildiler. Testis dokular?nda malondialdehit (MDA), dien konjugat? (DK), protein karbonil (PK), glutatyon (GSH) ve C vitamini düzeyleri ile süperoksit dismutaz (SOD) ve glutatyon peroksidaz (GPx) aktiviteleri ölçüldü. Ayr?ca histopatolojik de?erlendirme yap?ld?.

Bulgular: I/R grubunda MDA, DK, ve PK düzeyleri anlaml? olarak artm?? bulundu. Karnozin dü?ük bulunurken, karnozin tedavisinin C vitaminini yükseltti?i saptand?. Histolojik olarak I/R grubunda, germinal hücrelerde dejenerasyon, deskuamasyon, disorganizasyon ve interstisiyel ödem, germinal hücre tabakalar?nda azalma gözlenirken; karnozin tedavisi bu MDA düzeylerini de?i?tirmezken, yükselmi? DK ve PK düzeylerini dü?ürdü. Tüm gruplarda testis GSH düzeyleri ve SOD ve GPx aktiviteleri de?i?medi. Ancak, I/R grubunda C vitamini anlaml? olarak bulgularda iyile?me sa?lad?.

Sonuç: Karnozin tedavisinin s?çan testislerindeki I/R hasar?nda önleyici etkisi vard?r.