The Effect of Pirfenidone on Peyronie Plaques and Erectile Function in a Peyronie's Rat Model

To investigate the anti-fibrotic effects of pirfenidone on Peyronie's disease in an experimental rat model with intracavernosal injection of TGF-β and whether pirfenidone improves erectile function.

Experimental study. Place and Duration of the Study: Faculty of Medical Experimental Animals and Research Laboratory, Trakya University, from January to March 2021.

In this study, 27 male Sprague Dawley rats were used, and three groups were randomly identified. The rats in Group 1 served as the control group. Group 2 was not treated, and Group 3 was treated with pirfenidone therapy. The rats in Group 3 were administered pirfenidone 30 mg/kg/day by oral gavage, every day for four weeks, three weeks after the start of the experiment. At the end of seven weeks, a haemodynamic study was performed with cavernosal nerve stimulation to evaluate the erectile function, the rats were sacrificed, and the penile tissues were evaluated immunohistochemically.

MeICP/MIBP values were found to be higher in treated rats compared to rats in the untreated group but no statistically significant difference was found in MeICP/MIBP values between the control, Peyronie model, and treatment groups (p=0.25). According to the histopathological examination, the rate of fibrosis with H&E staining was mild (100%) in the control group, severe (100%) in the Peyronie group, and severe (87.5% severe and 12.5% moderate) in the Peyronie + treatment group.

In the study, pirfenidone used in the treatment of Peyronie's disease had a positive effect on erectile function, though not considered statistically significant. It has been shown that it has no histopathological effect on Peyronie's plaques.

Anti-fibrotic agent, Erectile function, Experimental study, Peyronie's disease, Pirfenidone.