[Advances in the research about penile erection related genes]

Molecular biologic research on erectile dysfunction (ED), especially the elucidation of NO-cGMP signaling pathway which plays an important role on modulating corpus cavernosum smooth muscle dilation, has been made the great advance in past ten years. The further research on the penile erection related genes including nitric oxide synthase (NOS), phosphodiesterases (PDEs), K+ channal, insulin-like growth factor (IGF), heme oxygenase (HO), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), cyclic GMP-dependent kinase (cGK I), angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) and growth factor (GF) etc, has given the theoretical evidence for the clinical treatment of ED in future.