Evaluating the effects of betaine on testicular ischemia/reperfusion injury induced by torsion/detorsion in the rat.

Abstract

In this research, the effects of betaine on testicular ischemia-reperfusion were evaluated. Forty rats were randomly divided into 4 groups of sham, torsion/detorsion (TD), torsion/detorsion with two different dosage of betaine 200 mg/kg, and 300 mg/kg, respectively. At the end of the experiment, the testosterone concentration, sperm motility, concentration and vitality, oxidative stress biomarkers including Malondialdehyde (MDA), Glutathione peroxidase (GPx), Catalase (CAT), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were assessed. Moreover, histopathological parameters including seminiferous tubules diameter (STD), seminiferous epithelium thickness (SET), spermatogonia nuclei diameter (SpND), Sertoli cell nuclei diameter (StND) and miotic index were evaluated. The testosterone concentration altered during torsion/detorsion and betaine could increase slightly the testosterone concentration after 15 days. Sperm motility and vitality significantly increased in the betaine treated groups compared to the TD group on days 3 and 15. Among oxidative stress biomarkers, only CAT on day 3 and GPx on day 15 were significantly higher in the betaine groups compared to the TD group. Among histopathological parameters an increase in the STD and SET in betaine-200 and betaine-300 groups were observed on 15th day of post-surgery, compared to the TD group. These findings indicate that betaine can ameliorate testicular damages triggered by torsion/detorsion.