Effect of lumbricus protein on the phenotypic transformation of penile corpus cavernosum smooth muscle cells in diabetic mellitus erectile dysfunction rats
Objective To investigate the effect of lumbricus protein on the phenotypic transformation of penile corpus cavernosum smooth muscle cells(CCSMC)in diabetic mellitus erectile dysfunction(DMED)rats,in order to clarify the mechanism of lumbricus protein improving the erectile function in DMED rats.Methods A total of 60 specific pathogen free(SPF)-grade male sprague-dawley(SD)rats were selected as study subjects in July 2021,and 50 were randomly selected to be injected intraperitoneally with streptozotocin(STZ)to construct a diabetic mellitus(DM)rat model,and the remaining 10 were used as the normal group.Rats were injected subcutaneously with apomorphine(APO)in the neck after 8 weeks and screened for DMED rats.The DMED rats were randomly divided into the model group,sildenafil group,and the low,medium and high dose groups of lumbricus protein(45,90,and 180 mg/kg),with 6 rats in each group,and 6 rats from the normal group were randomly selected as the blank group.After 4 weeks of administration,blood glucose,body weight,penile intracavernous pressure(ICP)and carotid mean arterial pressure(MAP)levels were detected and ICP/MAP was calculated to assess the erectile function of rats.Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression levels of contractile markers Caiponin and Desmin in rat penile corpus cavernosum.Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction(qRT-PCR)was used to detect the mRNA expression levels of Desmin and osteopontin(OPN)in penile corpus cavernosum.Western blotting was used to detect the protein expression levels of caiponin and smooth muscle myosin heavy chain(SMMHC)in penile corpus cavernosum.Results Compared with the blank group,the body weight and ICP/MAP of rats in the model group decreased significantly,and blood glucose increased significantly(P＜0.01);the expressions of Caiponin and Desmin in the penile corpus cavernosum of the rats in each administration group decreased significantly(P＜0.01);the expression of Desmin mRNA decreased,and the expression of OPN mRNA increased significantly(P＜0.01);Caiponin and SMMHC protein expressions decreased significantly(P＜0.01).Compared with the model group,the ICP/MAP levels of rats in the sildenafil group and the low,medium,and high dose groups of lumbricus protein were significantly higher(P＜0.01),but there was no statistically significant difference in body weights and blood glucose levels when comparing the rats in the sildenafil group and the low,medium,and high dose groups of lumbricus protein(P＞0.05);the expressions of Caiponin and Desmin in the penile corpus cavernosum of rats in each administration group increased significantly(P＜0.01);the expression of Desmin mRNA increased significantly and the expression of OPN mRNA decreased significantly(P＜0.01);the expressions of Caiponin and SMMHC protein increased significantly(P＜0.01).Conclusions Lumbricus protein can affect CCSMC transformation by up-regulating synthetic(proliferative)marker proteins or down-regulating contractile marker proteins in penile corpus cavernosum tissue,which in turn improves erectile function in DMED rats.
Lumbricus proteinErectile dysfunctionDiabetes mellitusPenile corpus cavernosum smooth muscle cellsPhenotypic transformation
万方数据
维普
