Objective: To study the effect of PDRN on angiogenesis in a model of varicocele in rats.
Design: After the creation of experimental varicocele, rats were randomized to one of the four treatments: vehicle, PDRN, DMPX, and PDRN plus DMPX. Twenty-one days after randomization, all animals were euthanized and the left testis was harvested.
Setting: Academic hospital.
Animal(s): Male Sprague-Dawley rats were used.
Intervention(s): A clamp was passed behind the left renal vein distally to the spermatic vein insertion. A silk ligature was placed around the left renal vein at this site and was tied over the top of a probe. The latter was then withdrawn and the vein was allowed to expand. In shams, a suture was placed but it was not tied.
Main outcome measure(s): To assess testicular microvascular density using CD34 immunostaining.
Result(s): Microvascular density in the varicocele plus PDRN group was significantly higher than in other groups.
Conclusion(s): PDRN could represent a novel therapeutic strategy for varicocele treatment in subfertile patients, improving the innate pathophysiologic mechanism of neoangiogenesis, through compensatory oxygen and metabolite supply to tubular and extratubular testicular compartments.
Copyright © 2012 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.