Panax notoginseng saponins improve the erectile dysfunction in diabetic rats by protecting the endothelial function of the penile corpus cavernosum / 重庆医学

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effects of Panax notoginseng saponins(PNS) on penile erection in rats with diabetes-as-sociated erectile dysfunction (ED) .Methods Ninety male Sprague-Dawley rats were established diabetic rats by injecting streptozo-tocin(STZ) ,and observing erectile phenomenon by injecting apomorphine .After 4 weeks of PNS treatment (low-dose ,medium-dose , high-dose group) ,erectile function in each group was assessed by intracavernous pressure (ICP) and mean arterial pressure(MAP) measurement .The level of nitric oxide(NO)and cyclic guanosine monophosphate(cGMP)in cavernous tissue were detected .Immu-nohistochemical staining and TUNEL were performed for detecting endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and apoptosis ,respec-tively .Results ICP and ICP/MAP ratio were significantly increased in medium-dose and high-dose PNS treated groups compared with the diabetic untreated group(P<0 .05) .Compared with the diabetic untreated group ,the expression of eNOS and the levels of NO and cGMP were increased in medium-dose and high-dose PNS treated groups(P<0 .05) .The apoptosis ratecorpus of caverno-sum in 3 PNS treatment groups significantly decreased than the diabetic untreated group (P<0 .05) .Conclusion PNS can recovery the endothelial cell function in corpus cavernosum by adjusting the NO/cGMP pathway and controlling the accumulation of AGEs , and may be used for improving in diabetic ED rats .