Testicular torsion is a serious urologic emergency and one of the causes of infertility in males. Hence, prompt diagnosis and treatment are important to prevent testicular damages. It has been proved that dapsone (4, 40 diamino-diphenyl sulfone) has anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of dapsone on ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in bilateral testes after unilateral testicular torsion/detorsion (T/D) in rats. In this experiment, eighteen male Wistar rats were allocated into three groups, including sham-operated, T/D + vehicle, and T/D + dapsone (12.5 mg/kg). Testicular torsion was induced for 1 h by rotating right (ipsilateral) testis 7200 in the clockwise direction. After 7 days of reperfusion, bilateral orchiectomy was conducted and evaluations of biochemical markers - tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) - and histological changes were performed. While induction of testicular T/D remarkably increased the level of TNF-α in the ipsilateral (torted) and contralateral (non-torted) testes, intraperitoneal (i.p) administration of dapsone (12.5 mg/kg) significantly lowered the TNF-α level (p < 0.001). Additionally, after induction of T/D, SOD activity was notably decreased, whereas administration of dapsone (12.5 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly raised SOD activity in the bilateral testes (p < 0.001). I/R injury also caused lesions in the microscopic pattern of the bilateral testicular tissues, while administration of dapsone (12.5 mg/kg, i.p.) led to a significant improvement in testicular damages. It was concluded that dapsone had a protective impact on I/R injury in the rat model of testicular T/D, and this effect was most likely induced by anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties of dapsone.
Keywords: Dapsone; Ischemia/reperfusion injury; Rat; Testicular torsion/detorsion.
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