Possible anti-apoptotic effect of losartan on testis damaged by diabetes

Diabetes is a metabolic disease that affects many tissues and organs, resulting in excessive elevation of blood glucose levels. It is one of the important problems of today with its high mortality and morbitide ratio and increasing prevalence values. Diabetes is a disorder affecting the structure of testes and spermatogenesis in addition to the disorder that many tissues and organs display. Many studies have shown that diabetes mellitus has adverse effects on testicular tissue in streptozotocin (STZ) -induced diabetic rat models. In addition to the antihypertensive effects of Losartan, various studies have shown that positive effects on testicular tissue in different disease models. Losartan is an angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker. It is often preferred because of its ability to retard diabetic nephropathy especially in patients with diabetes and hypertension. In our study, we investigated the possibility of correcting possible damage to the testicle in STZ (50mg / kg) -induced diabetic rats using losartan at different doses. For this purpose, 5 different experimental groups were formed. These groups consisted of control, diabetic control, low dose losartan diabetic group, medium dose losartan diabetic group and high dose losartan diabetic group. Changes in the testis tissues from the experimental groups we have formed were examined by immunohistochemical real time PCR analysis on apoptotic pathways as well as sperm parameters were evaluated by obtaining sperm from the epididymids taken from the groups. As a result of our study, a decrease in the apoptosis rates observed in the testis in connection with the increased losartan dose was detected. With increasing losartan dose, a decrease in pro-apoptotic protein mRNA and an increase in anti-apoptotic protein mRNA were detected. In addition, the sperm anemia and apoptosis rates decreased and sperm counts increased. It has been found that the dose increase of losartan has a positive effect on testicular damage caused by diabetes and reduces apoptosis rates.