Effect of anakinra, an interleukin one beta antagonist, on oxidative testicular damage induced in rats with ischemia reperfusion.

Background: It has been reported in the literature that proinflammatory interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) is increased in cases of testicular ischemia reperfusion (I/R) damage. This information suggests that anakinra, an IL-1β antagonist, may be effective in testicular I/R damage.

Objective: In our study, we investigated the effect of anakinra on testicular I/R damage induced in rats with torsion/detorsion.

Methods: The 50mg/kg anakinra+testicular torsion/detorsion (KTD-50) and 100mg/kg anakinra+testicular torsion/detorsion (KTD-100) groups received an intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of 50mg/kg and 100mg/kg of anakinra, respectively. In turn, the testicular torsion/detorsion (TTD) and sham operation (SOG) groups received a single dose of distilled water as a solvent 1h before ketamine anaesthesia. After the testes of the TTD, KTD-50 and KTD-100 groups were subjected to torsion and detorsion for 4h each, the rats were killed with a high-dose anaesthesia, and their testicles were removed and evaluated through biochemical, gene expression and histopathological examinations. The results were evaluated in comparison with those of the SOG group.

Results: The levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), myeloperoxidase (MPO) and IL-1β showed significant increases in the TTD group, which underwent torsion/detorsion, compared to the KTD-50, KTD-100 and SOG groups. Conversely, the levels of glutathione (tGSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPO) and glutathione s-transferase (GST) were found to be significantly higher in the KTD-50, KTD-100 and SOG groups than in the TTD group.

Conclusion: Anakinra at a 100mg/kg dose histologically suppressed better oxidative stress and tunica albuginea, germ cell, seminiferous tubule and interstitial damage in the testicular tissue compared to a 50mg/kg dose. Experimental results indicate that anakinra might be beneficial in the attenuation of testicular I/R damage.