The effect of hypothermia on adnexal torsion/detorsion injury in a rat ovary model

Abstract

Purpose: Much attention has been given to hypothermia as it is effective in inhibiting inflammatory responses and also ischemia/reperfusion injury. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of hypothermia on torsion/detorsion injury in rats.

Methods: Twenty-eight rats were randomly divided into four groups of sham-operated (SG), adnexal torsion/detorsion group (TG), adnexal torsion/detorsion+hypothermia group (THG) and hypothermia group (HG). In the SG group, right ovaries were excised after 3-h fixation to abdominal wall. In the TG, right adnexal underwent 720° torsion in a counterclockwise direction for 3h and then excised after 3-h detorsion period. In the THG, after 3-h torsion period, ovaries were immediately subjected to hypothermia (4°C) for 30-min and they were excised after 3-h detorsioned period. In the HG, the right ovaries were subjected to hypothermia for 30-min and excised after 3-h fixation period. One half of each ovary was immediately stored for antioxidant enzyme activity and tissue lipid peroxidation. The remainder was fixed for histopathological examination.

Results: Adnexal torsion and detorsion significantly increased the tissue level of Malondialdehyde, Superoxide dismutase and Reduced glutathione. On the other hand, hypothermia significantly reduced these oxidative stress parameters. The histopathological changes were less in the THG group; these changes were not statistically different from the other groups.

Conclusion: The results of this study suggested that hypothermia inhibited the production of oxidative stress in the ovaries subjected to torsion/detorsion injury.

Keywords: Adnexal torsion/detorsion injury; Hypothermia; Ischemia; Ovarian tissue.