Ferulago angulata: A Complementary Therapy in Testicular Torsion–Detorsion Damage

The present study was conducted to determine the protective influences of Ferulago angulata aqueous extract against testicular ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats. Twenty-eight subjects were assigned randomly into four groups: (I) sham group, (II) torsion/detorsion (T/D) group, (III) T/D followed by treatment with F. angulata (200 mg/kg, IP), (IV) intact group with only 200 mg/kg F. angulata. T/D damage was induced by 2 hours of testis rotation 720° followed by 24 hours of reperfusion injury. After reperfusion period, biochemical and hormonal parameters were measured in the serum, epididymal sperms were collected for evaluation of sperm characteristics (count, motility, viability, and abnormal morphology rate), and testes were studied histopathologically. I/R injury was associated with significant reduction in count, viability, and all sperm kinematic parameters (p 0.05), which could be reversed significantly by F. angulata (p 0.05) (except for some kinematic parameters). Although the abnormal morphology rate of sperms was numerically higher in the T/D group in comparison to the sham and intact groups; the difference was not statistically significant. Histopathological assessments showed that F. angulata could significantly increase the Johnsen’s score, mean seminiferous tubular diameter, and germinal epithelial cell thickness in the treatment group compared to the T/D group (p 0.05). GPx, SOD, and testosterone were significantly reduced following torsion/detorsion compared to the sham group (p 0.05); and the reductions were prevented significantly by F. angulata (p 0.05) (except for SOD). MDA level was significantly increased in the T/D group in comparison to the sham and intact groups (p 0.05), which F. angulata was not able to reverse peroxidation index. The overall results of the research suggest that F. angulata extract can be a good natural alternative to testicular I/R injury.