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Abstract
Purpose
Lower urinary tract symptoms and erectile dysfunction (ED) are common disorders in men and increase with age. Recently, there has been evidence to suggest that patients with high benign prostatic hyperplasia symptom scores have an increased frequency of ED. This study was performed to evaluate the change of the expression of endothelin-1 (ET-1) in the corpus cavernosum by inducing partial bladder outlet obstruction (PBOO) in a rat model.
Materials and Methods
Eight Sprague-Dawley male rats were used for induction of PBOO by placing a 25 gauge angioneedle sheath around the urethra, then ligating the bladder neck with 3-0 vicryl suture and six sham-operated rats were ligated very loosely without causing obstruction. At three and five weeks after PBOO, the distal portion of the ligated penile tissues was dissected for immunohistochemical staining of ET-1 in the vascular endothelial cell.
Results
ET-1 was weakly expressed (+) in the smooth muscle layers of the control group and a very strong expressed (++++) in the experimental group on 3 weeks after PBOO. However, there was no expression in the experimental group on 5 weeks after PBOO. There was no expression (−) in the vascular endothelial cells of the control group and very strong expression (++++) in the experimental group on 3 weeks after PBOO. Howerver, there was no expression in the experimental group on 5 weeks after PBOO.
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Fig. 1.
The change of bladder outlet weight in the controls and partial bladder outlet obstruction. The bladder weight of the PBOO group was significantly higher than that of control group. ∗p＜0.05 as compared with control, PBOO: partial bladder outlet obstruction.
Fig. 2.
Immunohistochemical identification of endothelin-1 (ET-1) in corpus cavernosum of the penis. The immunoreactivity of the ET-1 showed in the smooth muscle (A) and endothelium of the small vessels (B) in the corpus cavernosum, indicating that the expression of ET-1 was not restricted to the endothelium of the small blood vessels in the corpus cavernosum. In the rats with PBOO treatment for 3 weeks, the density of ET-1 immunoreactive smooth muscle cells and endothelium was significantly up-regulated (++++) compared with those of the control animals while ET-1 level was completely down-regulated in the rats with PBOO treatment for 5 weeks. Sham: sham-operated animals, Csm: smooth muscles of corpus cavernosum, Cbv: small blood vessels of the corpus cavernosum, PBOO 3W: surgical treatment of the PBOO for 3 weeks, PBOO 5W: surgical treatment of the PBOO for 5 weeks, respectively. Scale bar: 50μm.
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