Effect of aging on nitric oxide-mediated penile erection in rats

Aging is an important risk factor for impotence in men. Because nitric oxide (NO) appears to be the mediator of corpora cavernosal smooth muscle relaxation, we have examined in 5-, 20-, and 30-mo-old rats, designated "adult," "old," and "senescent," respectively, whether aging causes a decrease of erectile response that may correlate with lower NO synthase (NOS) in the penis. Electric field stimulation (EFS) of the cavernosal nerve showed that the maximum intracavernosal pressure (MIP) declined in the old and senescent rats to 80 and 51% of the adult value, respectively. A low systemic dose of the NOS inhibitor, N omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME; 2 mg/kg), reduced the MIP by only 38% in the adult rats but decreased it in the old and senescent rats by 72 and 80%, respectively. In the absence of EFS, intracavernosal papaverine (phosphodiesterase inhibitor), or nitroglycerin (NO donor), caused a lower erectile response in the old and senescent rats compared with the adult animals (MIP: 41 and 14%, respectively; duration of the erection 46 and 21%, respectively). Tissue sections from old and senescent penises showed increasing degrees of sclerotic degeneration. In comparison with the adult rats, the penile soluble NOS activity per gram of tissue that is sensitive to L-NAME decreased significantly by 63% in the senescent rats but was elevated in the old rats. These results indicate that aging causes an erectile failure due to factors initially independent from an impairment of penile NO synthesis but which are compounded in the very old rats by the decrease of penile NOS activity.