Capsaicin effectively prevents apoptosis in the contralateral testis after ipsilateral testicular torsion

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.

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.

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.

Capsaicin effectively prevented apoptosis in the contralateral testes of rats that had undergone testicular torsion.