Biochemical and pathological effects of hypothermia on testicular ischemic injury in rats.
- Author:
Myung Soo CHOO
1
;
Sung Won LEE
;
Ky Hyun CHUNG
;
Sang Eun LEE
;
Hwang CHOI
Author Information
1. Department of Urology, Seoul National University, College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Testicular torsion;
Hypothermia;
ATP;
Histology
- MeSH:
Adenosine Triphosphate;
Animals;
Baths;
Diagnosis, Differential;
Emergencies;
Epithelium;
Humans;
Hypothermia*;
Ice;
Ischemia;
Male;
Orchiectomy;
Rats*;
Rats, Sprague-Dawley;
Scrotum;
Spermatic Cord Torsion;
Testis
- From:Korean Journal of Urology
1991;32(2):184-190
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
The testicular torsion is a urological emergency. Clinical examples emphasizing torsion of the testis as the most important differential diagnosis in young men with acute scrotal swelling and pain, as well as the need of early exploration, have been reported with increasing frequency. The ischemic effects of a testicular torsion and the critical time for saving ischemic testis have been well documented in many experimental studies. But preservation or arrest of the damaging effects of ischemia has been incompletely studied. Two groups of Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to varying duration of bilateral testicular torsion. Group I underwent normothermic torsion for two, four and six hours. Group II underwent same periods of hypothermic torsion placing the scrotum into ice bath maintained at 4 degrees C including initial 30 minutes of normothermic torsion. Two weeks after operation bilateral orchiectomy was performed. The measurement of tissue ATP and histological analysis of the ischemic testes were compared between the two groups. Neither group revealed significant decrease of ATP and destruction of germinal epithelium after two hours of ischemia. The preservation rates of ATP and germinal epithelium in group I were 45.5% and 27.7% at four hours, 38.2% and 12.8% at six hours of ischemia. In contrast, those in group II which received hypothemia were 89.5% and 93.6% at four hours and 85.6% and 87.2% at six hours of ischemia. We conclude that external ice application (hypothermia) significantly gives biochemical and pathological preservations in rat testes at four and six hours of ischemic injury.
