振興財團法人振興醫院 臺北榮民總醫院 泌尿部

Department of Urology, Cheng Hsin General Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

 

Purpose: Ischemic stroke is a common cerebral vascular disease. Brain is involved in regulation of penile erection. Resveratrol (trans 3,4’,5-trihydroxystilbene) is one of the major components of red wine which may stimulate nitric oxide production in endothelial cells to induce vasodilation, reduce infarct volume and exert neuroprotective effect on rats subjected to focal cerebral ischemia (FCI) injury. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of resveratrol on penile erection in the FCI injury rat.

Materials and Methods: Male Long-Evans rats (300-450 g) anesthetized with intraperitoneal injection of chlorohydrate were used. Right middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) by ligation was executed to induce focal ischemic infarction at right lateral cerebral cortex. One day after operation, rats were fed with resveratrol 1 mg, 2 mg/0.5 ml and saline (control group), respectively via oro-gastric tube daily. Resveratrol 10 mg/0.2 ml and saline (control group) was intravenously administered, respectively every week. Four weeks later, a 26-gauge needle was inserted into the corpus cavernosum of abovementioned 5 groups to monitor intracavernous pressure (ICP) on a polygraph, respectively. The cavernous nerve (CN) was electrically stimulated with the stimulus parameters (5, 7.5, 10 V, 20 Hz, 2 ms, 1 minute), respectively. In addition, intracavernous administration of resveratrol 0.1 mg/0.1 ml was executed as well. The amount of ICP increase (peak ICP minus resting ICP) between experimental and control groups was compared, respectively by Mann-Whitney U test. A p < 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: There was a significant greater amount of ICP increase after CN stimulation (7.5 V) in MCAO rats with oral resveratrol 1 mg (50.5 ± 11.3 mmHg, p=0.009) and 2 mg (59.0 ± 8.8 mmHg, p=0.009) as compared with rats with daily feeding saline (28.2 ± 5.3 mmHg), respectively. There was a significant greater amount of ICP increase after CN stimulation (7.5 V) in MCAO rats between weekly intravenous administration of resveratrol 10 mg and saline (56.7 ± 5.7 mmHg vs. 30.7 ± 5.2 mmHg, p=0.009). There was no significant change of ICP after intracavernous administration of resveratrol 0.1 μg (from resting 9.5 ± 1.5 mmHg to peak 9.7 ± 1.6 mmHg, p=0.564 ).