Qiwei No.3 combined with sildenafil inhibits Rho kinase activity and increases AKT/eNOS expressions in the penile cavernosum of rats with diabetic erectile dysfunction
Objective:To explore the effects of Qiwei No.3 combined with sildenafil on Rho kinase activity and AKT/eNOS pathways in the penile cavernous tissue of male rats with diabetic erectile dysfunction(DED).Methods:We constructed a model of DED in 24 SD male rats by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin solution and injecting apomorphine into the neck after 8 weeks of feeding,equally randomized the model rats into a model control(MC),a sildenafil(S),a low-dose Qiwei No.3 combined with silde-nafil(LQ+S)and a high-dose Qiwei No.3 combined with sildenafil(HQ+S)group,and took another 6 normal male rats as blank controls(BC).We treated intragastrically the animals in the BC and MC groups with normal saline,and those in the S,LQ+S and HQ+S groups with sildenafil(5 mg/kg/d),Qiwei No.3(10 g/kg/d)+sildenafil(5mg/kg/d),and Qiwei No.3(20g/kg/d)+sildenafil(5mg/kg/d),respectively.After 6 weeks of treatment,we recorded the number of penile erections of all the rats by injecting apomorphine into the neck,and measured the activity of Rho kinase and expressions of p-AKT and eNOS proteins in the corpus cavern-osum by Western blot.Results:Compared with the blank controls,all the DED model rats showed evidently elevated blood glucose and reduced body weight.The number of penile erections was significantly increased in the S,LQ+S and HQ+S groups in comparison with that in the model controls(P＜0.05),even higher in the HQ+S than in the S group(P＜0.05).The activity of Rho kinase in the penile cavernosum was significantly higher in the MC than in the BC group(P＜0.05),but lower in the HQ+S than in the S group(P＜0.05).No statistically significant difference was observed in the expression level of the p-AKT protein in the penile caver-nosum among the five groups of rats(P＞0.05).The expression of eNOS was remarkably up-regulated in the BC and HQ+S groups(P＜0.05)compared with that in the MC group,even more significantly in the HQ+S than in the LQ+S and S groups(P＜0.05).Conclusion:The combination of high-dose"Qiwei No.3"and sildenafil can improve erectile function in DED rats,which may be at-tributed to its effect of releasing more nitric oxide(NO)by inhibiting the activity of Rho kinase and up-regulating the expression of the e-NOS protein.
diabetic erectile dysfunctionQiwei No.3Rho kinasep-AKT proteineNOS protein
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