Eucalyptol attenuates testicular ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats

The efficacy of eucalyptol on testicular ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury remains uncertain. This study aimed to investigate the protective effects of eucalyptol on I/R injury induced by testicular torsion/detorsion (T/D) in rats. A total of 32 rats were divided into four groups, including control, T/D, E100 (T/D + 100 mg kg^-1 eucalyptol administered 30 min prior to torsion), and E200 (T/D + 200 mg kg^-1 eucalyptol administered 30 min prior to torsion). Testicular T/D was induced in the left testis via a 720° clockwise torsion for 3 hr, followed by 3 hr of detorsion. Testicular tissues were harvested for histopathological, immunohistochemical including cleaved caspase-3, B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2)-associated X protein (Bax), Bcl-2, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and biochemical parameter as glutathione peroxidase (GPx), reduced glutathione (rGSH), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), vitamin C, and malondialdehyde (MDA) analyses. In the T/D group, significant reductions in GPx, rGSH, G6PD, and vitamin C levels were observed, alongside increased MDA levels compared to the control group. Immuno-histochemically, the T/D group exhibited increased expression of cleaved caspase-3 and Bax, along with decreased expression of Bcl-2 and PCNA, compared to the control group. Histologically, Johnsen and Cosentino scores were irregular in the T/D group. Pre-treatment with eucalyptol resulted in reduced MDA, cleaved caspase-3, and Bax levels, while GPx, rGSH, vitamin C, G6PD, PCNA, and Bcl-2 levels increased. Additionally, improvements in Cosentino and Johnsen scores and histopathological damage were observed. These findings suggest that eucalyptol may exert a protective effect against I/R injury caused by testicular T/D, likely due to its anti-oxidant and anti-apoptotic properties.