Investigation of long term effects of N-acetylcysteine against tissue injury induced by testicular torsion

Testicular torsion is a urological emergency which is seen in newborns, children and adolescents. In testicular torsion treatment, surgical detorsion is applied to prevent permanent testicular tissue injury. Some studies showed that NAC has a protective effect against ischemia-reperfusion injury induced by testicular torsion. In the view of the effects of long term alterations on contralateral and ipsilateral testis, the changes in testicular function and eventual reduction fertility. In this study, we investigated whether the NAC treatment following torsion has long term effects on testes by means of antioxidant enzyme activities and histopathological investigation. 18 rats were divided into three groups. First group, the rats were subjected to laparotomy and two months later all testis tissues were collected. Second group, rats left testis was subjected to unilateral torsion (720 degree), four hours later left testis tissue was subjected to detorsion, and then two months later all tissues were collected. Third group, the rats left testis was subjected to unilateral torsion (720 degree), four hours later left testis was subjected to detorsion. To this group, NAC was given 30 minutes before the detorsion and daily for five days following detorsion. Then after reperfusion all tissues were collected. Parts of both left and right testis tissues were used to measure MDA, GSH quantity and they were used to determine SOD, CAT, GPx activity. Rest of the tissues were used for histopathological examination. In left testis tissue, MDA concentration were found to be lower in ischemia and NAC groups when compared to the control group (p<0.05). In left testis tissue, CAT activity were observed to be highest in ischemia and NAC groups (p<0.05). In addition, in right testis tissue, GPx activity were found high (p<0.05). In histopathological evaluation, the administration of NAC prevented the tissue damage.In conclusion, in evaluation of long term effect of N-Acetylcysteine on tissue injury induced by testicular torsion, antioxidant enzyme activities alone were not sufficient and the administration of NAC was not effective on antioxidant enzymes.