EFFECT OF ALL TRANS RETINOIC ACID (ATRA) ON CASPASE-3 ACTIVITY AND BCL-2 (B-CELL LYMPHOMA 2) LEVEL IN THE IPSILATERAL TESTIS OF WISTAR RATS SUBJECTED TO TESTICULAR ISCHEMIA-REPERFUSION INJURY.

Testicular ischemia-reperfusion injury (TIRI) is the damage caused by testicular torsion (TT) and repair which its short and long term consequences can cause damage to the ipsilateral and possibly contralateral testes. All-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) has been reported to exhibit anti-apoptotic properties. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of ATRA on Caspase-3 activity and BCL-2 level in the ipsilateral testis of Wistar rats subjected to TIRI. Forty (40) male Wistar rats weighing (120-150 g) were divided into 4 groups of n=10 rats each: Group1: Sham operated, Group 2: Torsion + Detorsion (TD), Group 3: ATRA+ Torsion + Detorsion and group 4: Torsion + Detorsion +ATRA. All the groups except sham underwent torsion for one hour afterwards detorsion to induce reperfusion which lasted for 3 days. Group 3 and 4 were pre-treated and post-treated with ATRA respectively at the dosage of 7.5 mg/kg for 3 days i.p. After 3 days, the rats were anesthetized with ketamine-50 mg/kg. After 3 days, the left (ipsilateral) testes were harvested, rinsed in cold phosphate buffer and homogenized for the assessment of caspase 3 activity and BCL-2 level. Data were analyzed using ANOVA, multiple comparisons was done with Tukey’s post-hoc test and P-value was set at 0.05. The result showed that TD significantly increased BCL-2 level and there was no significant difference in ATRA pretreated and post-treated groups when compared to TD group. This results showed that there was increased apoptotic cascades in the TD group and the tissue BCL-2 expression was increased to respond to reduce apoptosis. Keywords: BCL-2, caspase 3, All-trans-retinoic acid.