The antioxidant effect of dexmedetomidine on testicular ischemia-reperfusion injury.

PURPOSE To investigate the protective effect of dexmedetomidine (Dex) on testicular damage induced by ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats. METHODS Sham group underwent left scrotal exploration only (group 1). The ischemia-reperfusion only group underwent left testicular torsion and detorsion (group 2). The ischemia-reperfusion plus Dex group underwent left testicular torsion, received 50 µg/kg Dex (group 3) and 100 µg/kg Dex (group 4) intraperitoneally at minute 180 of ischemia and then underwent detorsion. We determined histopathological findings and performed specific biochemical analyses. RESULTS Increasing doses of Dex significantly increased TAS, and significantly decreased OSI. Analyzing the antioxidant effects of increasing doses of Dex in torsion and contrlateral testicles: Dex 100 µg/kg statistically significant increased the tissue total antioxidant status (TAS) and oxidative stress index (OSI) when compared with Dex 50 µg/kg but not found significantly change on the tissue total oxidant status (TOS). However, Dex did not significantly improve these histological alterations. CONCLUSION The antioxidant effects of dexmedetomidine on testicular ischemia-reperfusion injury in ipsilateral and contrlateral testis, but in the histopathological level, there was no difference statistically according to Johnsen's scoring system between groups at both sides.