Comparison of the protective effects of sildenafil, vardenafil and tadalafil treatments in ischemia-reperfusion injury in rat ovary

The aim of this study was to compare the effects of sildenafil, vardenafil and tadalafil in treatment for ischemia/reperfusion injury which is created experimentally in rat ovaries. For this study, 30 female Wistar albino rats were used, and the rats were separated randomly intofive groups consisting of six rats each: normal, torsion-detorsion, torsion-detorsion + sildenafil 1.4 mg/kg, torsion-detorsion+ vardenafil 1.7 mg/kg and torsion-detorsion + tadalafil 5.0 mg/kg. The agents were given intraperitoneally 30 minutesbefore detorsion. An ovarian torsion procedure was implemented in all other groups for 3 hours with the exception of thenormal group. Then, a detorsion procedure was implemented to the groups for 3 hours. The sildenafil and vardenafil treatments showed protective effect by preventing significant increase in inflammationparameters. (p = 0.058, 0.138). The tadalafil treatment was only protective for cellular degeneration (p = 0.140). Thevardenafil treatment was protective for edema (p = 0.238), vascular congestion (p = 0.111), inflammation (p = 0.138) andcellular degeneration (p = 0.532). Sildenafil, vardenafil and tadalafil inhibited the increase of atretic follicle. AMH levels werestatistically different between torsion and detorsion and vardenafil group (p = 0.004, 0.004), whereas tadalafil and sildenafilgroups were similar to normal group (p = 0.108, 0.108). PDE inhibitors were found to be effective in reducing ovarian ischemia/reperfusion injury. Sildenafil andtadalafil seem to be more effective than the vardenafil in protecting the ovarian reserve.