Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids ameliorates testicular ischemia-reperfusion injury through the induction of Nrf2 and inhibition of NF-κB in rats

ObjectiveThis study was designed to investigate the protective effect of Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) on testicular ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats.MethodsA total of 24 rats were randomly divided into the following three groups: Group A (Control group, n = 8), Group B (I/R group, n = 8), Group C (I/R group treated with n-3 PUFAs, n = 8). Histological examination was used to assess changes in testicular structure. Tissue oxidative stress biomarkers, malondialdehyde (MDA) as well as Superoxide, and antioxidant indexes, including total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC); catalase (CAT); glutathione (GSH); glutathione/glutathione disulfide ratio (GSH/GSSG); superoxide dismutase (SOD) were determined. In addition, nuclear transcription factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), Nrf2-dependent antioxidant enzymes, such as heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and NADPH quinine oxidoreductase-1 (NQO-1), and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) were detected.ResultsCompared to I/R group, n-3 PUFAs could obviously increase the mean seminiferous tubular diameter in the histological examination. After n-3 PUFAs treatment, the level of tissue MDA and Superoxide were significantly decreased, while tissue T-AOC, CAT, GSH, GSH/GSSG and SOD levels were significantly increased, compared to I/R group (P < 0.05). Besides, the expression levels of Nrf2, HO-1, and NQO-1 were significantly higher and the NF-κB expression level was significantly lower in the n-3 PUFAs treated group than that in I/R group (P < 0.05).ConclusionsThese results provided evidences that n-3 PUFAs ameliorated testes damage caused by testicular I/R injury through its antioxidative capacity and anti-inflammatory effects, involving the activation of Nrf2 and the inhibition of NF-κB.