the effect of safranal on histological damages and oxidative stress induced by ischemia-reperfusion in adult rat ovaries

Introduction: ovarian torsion is an emergency condition that occurs when the adnexa undergoes complete or partial rotation. following ovarian torsion, damage caused by ischemia/reperfusion can impact fertility and sex hormone secretion. our study aims to investigate the role of safranal in preventing ovarian ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats. methods: animal subgroups included: sham, ovarian torsion/detorsion (ot), ovarian torsion/detorsion with the treatment of safranal (ots 0.1, 0.5), and safranal group (os 0.1, 0.5). ovarian torsion was induced in the left ovary of rats for 2 hours. intraperitoneal treatment with safranal at 0.1 and 0.5 mg/kg doses was performed 30 minutes before the detorsion operation. 48 h after detorsion, ovarian tissue was collected to evaluate the histopathological scores and apoptosis gene expression of bcl-2, caspase 3, and bax. blood samples were collected to measure plasma estradiol levels and oxidative stress parameters.results: analyses demonstrated that ovarian follicular damage was accompanied by increased serum malondialdehyde (mda) levels and increased expression of bcl2 and caspase-3 genes. additionally, serum levels of glutathione peroxidase (gpx), estrogen, and superoxide dismutase (sod) decreased in the ot group. however, treatment with safranal 0.5 mg/kg was accompanied by an improvement in the histopathological score of the ovarian tissue and a reduction in apoptosis and oxidative stress. conclusion: safranal exhibits antioxidant properties in a rat model of ovarian torsion and could be considered a cost-effective therapeutic option for ovarian detorsion in gynecological clinics.