Safranal Ameliorates Ischemic/Reperfusion Injury Induced by Testicular Torsion in Rat

Testicular torsion is very common in urological emergencies, which damages testicular tissue and reproductive function. Safranal, known for its robust antioxidant properties, has demonstrated effective inhibition of ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) in various tissues such as the hippocampus, cerebral, and skeletal muscles. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of Safranal on testicular tissue following IRI.

This research involved 48 male adult Wistar rats. They were randomly divided into six groups: control, testicular torsion/detorsion (TD), torsion and detorsion/safranal (0.1, 0.5 mg/kg, ip), and safranal control groups (0.1, 0.5 mg/kg, ip). Under anesthesia, the left testicular torsion was induced for four hours, 30 minutes before detorsion, a single dose of safranal was injected. After 24 hours of reperfusion, assessments encompassing oxidative markers, estradiol, testosterone, LH hormone, sperm parameters, testicular histopathology, and gene expression were conducted on blood and tissue samples.

Heightened seminiferous epithelia (HE) was observed in the TD groups receiving safranal (TD+Sa 0.1, 0.5). There was a significant increase in sperm count and a notable reduction in abnormal sperm count compared to the TD group. Also, the expression of the Bax gene significantly decreased in comparison to the TD group. In rats receiving 0.1 mg/ kg of safranal, there was an improvement in superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). Although not statistically significant, the TD+Sa groups exhibited slightly enhanced levels of estradiol, testosterone, and LH compared to the TD group.

These findings suggest that safranal may protect testicular tissue from IRI through antioxidant and antiapoptotic pathways.