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Updated: Jul 23, 2025
Acupuncture in a Rat Model of Asthma
Published on: August 25, 2020
[Asthma affects erectile function in rats: An experimental study]
Sheng Deng1, Chen Yu2, Heng-Heng Dai1
1The First School of Clinical Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China.
Objective:
To investigate the impact of asthma on erectile function in rats and the expressions of related proteins.
Methods:
Male rats were injected intraperitoneally with ovalbumin solution to induce asthma followed by subcutaneous injection of apomorphine at 100 μg/kg into the neck, and then observed for reduced frequency or loss of penile erection. Based on the results of observation, a model of asthma-induced ED (AED) was made in 6 of the animals, and another 6 normal male rats were taken as controls. The histomorphology of the corpus cavernosum was observed by HE staining, and the mRNA and protein expressions of phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) and nitric oxide synthase 3 (eNOS) in the testis tissue were determined by RT-qPCR and Western blot.
Results:
Compared with the normal controls, the rats in the AED model group showed disorderly distribution of sinusoids and decreased density of endothelial and smooth muscle cells in the corpus cavernosum. The mRNA and protein expressions of PDE5 were significantly higher (P < 0.05), while those of eNOS remarkably lower in the AED model than in the control group (P < 0.05).
Conclusions:
Asthma can induce ED and change the histomorphology of the corpus cavernosum in rats by affecting the expressions of PDE5 and eNOS proteins.
