Haemodynamic Recovery Properties of the Torsioned Testicular Artery Lumen

Abstract

Testicular artery torsion (twisting) is one such severe vascular condition that leads spermatic cord injury. In this study, we investigate the recovery response of a torsioned ram testicular artery in an isolated organ-culture flow loop with clinically relevant twisting modes (90°, 180°, 270° and 360° angles). Quantitative optical coherence tomography technique was employed to track changes in the lumen diameter, wall thickness and the three-dimensional shape of the vessel in the physiological pressure range (10–50 mmHg). As a control, pressure-flow characteristics of the untwisted arteries were studied when subjected to augmented blood flow conditions with physiological flow rates up to 36 ml/min. Both twist and C-shaped buckling modes were observed. Acute increase in pressure levels opened the narrowed lumen of the twisted arteries noninvasively at all twist angles (at ∼22 mmHg and ∼35 mmHg for 360°-twisted vessels during static and dynamic flow experiments, respectively). The association between the twist-opening flow rate and the vessel diameter was greatly influenced by the initial twist angle. The biomechanical characteristics of the normal (untwisted) and torsioned testicular arteries supported the utilization of blood flow augmentation as an effective therapeutic approach to modulate the vessel lumen and recover organ reperfusion.

The Relationship Between Widespread Pollution Exposure and Oxidized Products of Nucleic Acids in Seminal Plasma and Urine in Males Attending a Fertility Center

“…Alternatively, the pollutants could have crossed the blood-testis barrier (BTB) and affected the actively dividing spermatogonia resulting in damaged DNA. The plausibility of this concept is low in conjunction with the fact that (1) the arterial blood flow to the testis is rather low (about 9.6 mL/min out of a cardiac output of~4.7 L/min) [49,50] and (2) the BTB is one of the tightest blood-tissue barriers known to exist in mammalian tissues, even more difficult to cross than the blood brain barrier [51][52][53]. In fact, one of the main role of the BTB is to prevent small molecules, and hence also harmful contaminants, from passing through the paracellular space [54].…”