Objective: To evaluate the effect of afferent nerve blockage by administration of capsaicin on apoptotic changes in the contralateral testis in rats undergoing ipsilateral testicular torsion.
Materials and methods: Twenty male albino rats were randomly divided into four groups. In groups 1 and 2, rats underwent a sham operation and testicular torsion, respectively, after the intraperitoneal administration of 0.9% NaCl. Similarly, in groups 3 and 4 the rats underwent a sham operation and testicular torsion, respectively, after an intraperitoneal capsaicin injection. The testes were untwisted 24 h later and the contralateral testes harvested. Apoptosis was assessed in paraffin-embedded sections stained for nuclear DNA fragmentation. Fifteen cells were counted in each seminiferous tubule and the apoptotic cells recorded. A score was calculated for each group and the results compared using the Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance and Mann Whitney U-tests, with P<0.05 considered to be significant.
Results: The mean apoptotic score of group 2 was significantly higher than that of the other groups. There was no difference between the apoptotic scores of groups 1 and 3, 1 and 4, and 3 and 4.
Conclusion: Capsaicin effectively prevented apoptosis in the contralateral testes of rats that had undergone testicular torsion.