The Protective Effect Of Hypothermia On The Testis Following Testicular Torsion/detorsion In Rats

Objective: To investigate the effect and mechanism of hypothermia on apoptosis of germ cells following testicular torsion/detorsion in rats.Methods: Twenty-four healthy pubertal male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided equally into three groups:A group(torsion),B group(torsion+hypothermia),C group(control).Animals were submitted to unilateral 720 ° testicular torsion, the detorsion were done in two hours .Fourteen days later, the Total Antioxidant capacity (T-Aoc) and the level of malonic diethylaldehyde(MDA) were detected with spectrophotometer . the evidence of germ cell apoptosis was detected by the TdT-mediated dUTP-X nick end labeling(TUNEL)technique. The histological changes were observed by light microscope.Results: The T-AOC of B group were more than that of A group (P<0.01), but lessthan that of C group (P<0.01) . The level of MDA of B group were less than that of Agroup (P<0.01) ,but more than that of C group (P<0.05) .The apoptosis index of germcells of B group were less than that of A group (P<0.01) , but more than that of C group(P<0.01) .Conclusion: Hypothermia can reduce the germ cell apoptosis following testicular torsion/detorsion in rats. Hypothermia can restrain the production of oxygen free radicals which in the turn restrain lipid peroxidation and increase the survivability of the torsional testicle.