I/R procedures

The rats in each group were anesthetized with pentobarbital (45 mg/kg) and placed on a homeothermic table to maintain core body temperature at 37 °C. All operations were performed under sterile conditions. Briefly, after anesthesia, a vertical paramedian incision of the scrotum was made and then unilateral testicular torsion was performed by rotating the left testis 720° in a clock-wise direction and fixed for 4 hours. At the end of 4 hours, the detorsion of the testis was performed after anesthesia and the testis was placed back into the scrotum 12 .