The Effects of Rutin on the Gene Expression of Dazl, Bcl2, and Caspase3 in Idarubicin-induced Testicular Damages in Mice

Background Idarubicin (IDA), as a chemotherapeutic drug, has side effects on testicular tissue; different studies have shown the protective and antioxidant effects of rutin. Objectives The current study aimed at investigating the protective effects of rutin on damages induced by IDA in the testes of mice. Methods In the current experimental study, Balb/c mice were divided into 8 groups, including saline (10 mL/kg), rutin (single doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg via intraperitoneal (i.p) as the control groups, saline-IDA group (saline for 7 days, IDA, 10 mg/kg, i.p), rutin 50 and 100 mg/kg for 7 days before IDA, and rutin (single doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg) before IDA. The expression of Bcl2, Caspase3 and Dazl at the mRNA level was assessed. Results Administration of rutin 100 mg/kg for 7 days before IDA could significantly downregulate Caspase3 expression by 45% compared with saline-7d-IDA (P < 0.001). Also, in the R100-7d-IDA group, the expression level of Dazl (12.4 ± 3.50), Bcl2 (2.5 ± 0.5) significantly increased compared to those of the saline-7d-IDA group (0.84 ± 0.5, 0.12 ± 0.001, respectively) (P < 0.001). Conclusions It seems that the preventive effects of rutin against damages caused by IDA can be attributed to its ability to reduce apoptosis, which may be mediated by underexpression of Caspase3 and overexpression of Bcl2 genes. Also, it could increase the expression of Dazl that may be important in spermatogenesis.