Protective effect of mesenchymal stem cells and melatonin on testicular torsion-induced infertility

Abstract

We aimed to explore the effects of systemic melatonin and intratesticular Adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AdMSCs) administration on rats with acute unilateral testicular torsion. Rats were randomized into Sham group (S) (n=8), torsion/detorsion group (T/D by torsion of right testis with rotated 720° counter clockwise for 3 h, then detorsion) (n=8), Melatonin group given 25 mg/kg after torsion/detorsion (M) (n=8), Adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cell-treated group after torsion/detorsion (MSC) (n=8), Adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cell-treated group with melatonin after torsion/detorsion (MSC+M) (n=8). We measured MDA, Testosterone, FSH and LH levels, performed histopathological analyses in testicles, and identified SOX, VASA and Caspas-3 reactions immunohistochemically. Testosterone, FSH, LH values did not yield any significant difference between the groups. While the Johnson score in the right testis remained the lowest in T/D, the highest score was noted in the S. The T/D manifested some degenerative seminiferous tubules, abnormal spermatogenesis and maturation arrest. The degenerative appearance monitored in M, MSC and MSC+M groups persisted in some tubules, while markedly reduced degeneration was observed in some other tubules. The highest Caspase-3 expression in T/D, whereas SOX-9 expression remained significantly higher in the treatment groups. Another aspect deserving attention is that MSC were characterized by low VASA expression. Our experimental trial suggests that the torsion-induced degeneration in testicular tissue was ameliorated in all the treatment groups. Although MSC, MSC+M and M administrations decreased the torsion-induced degeneration in the testicular tissue, these treatments did not prove to be superior to each other.