Benefits of the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of etoricoxib in the prevention of ovarian ischemia/reperfusion injury induced experimentally in rats

Aim This study is a biochemical investigation of the effect of etoricoxib, a selective cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitor, on ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury experimentally induced in rat ovaries. Methods Experimental animals were divided into four groups: (i) ovarian ischemia/reperfusion (IRG); (ii) 30mg/kg etoricoxib+ovarian ischemia/reperfusion (EIRG-30); (iii) 60mg/kg etoricoxib+ovarian ischemia/reperfusion (EIRG-60); and (iv) a sham operation (SG) control group. Results The results showed levels of malondialdehyde in the IRG, EIRG-30, EIRG-60 and SG group ovarian tissue of 20.2 +/- 3.4, 11.2 +/- 3.2, 5.5 +/- 1.9 and 3.8 +/- 1.5mol/g protein, respectively. Myeloperoxidase activity for these groups was 24.2 +/- 6.7, 13 +/- 2.4, 4 +/- 1.8 and 3.5 +/- 1.9U/g protein, and total glutathione levels were 1.6 +/- 0.8, 4.5 +/- 1.9, 6.5 +/- 1.9 and 7.5 +/- 2.4nmol/g protein, respectively. COX-1 activity in IRG, EIRG-30, EIRG-60 and SG group rat ovarian tissue was 5.0 +/- 2.8, 12.2 +/- 2.4, 16.7 +/- 2.8 and 17.5 +/- 4.7U/mg protein, and COX-2 activity was 18.3 +/- 2.7, 3.5 +/- 1, 1.8 +/- 0.7 and 0.7 +/- 0.3U/mg protein, respectively. Conclusion Etoricoxib prevented oxidative damage induced with I/R in rat ovarian tissue. This property of etoricoxib suggests that it can be clinically beneficial in the prevention of damage that may arise with reperfusion by detorsion for the protection of the ovaries against torsion.