Human corpus cavernosum
Human cavernosal tissue advantages
- In vitro investigation of human corpus cavernosum function.
- Useful to investigate the effect of drugs developed to improve erectile dysfunction.
- Evaluation of the ability of drugs at modulating cavernosal smooth muscle tone can be performed:
- on adrenergic contractile response elicited by a-adrenergic pharmacological stimulation (phenylephrine/norepinephrine)
- on contractions induced by electrical field stimulation (EFS) which stimulates efferent nerve terminals present in the tissue
- on nitrergic relaxation induced by EFS or pharmacological agents (nitric oxide donors); endothelium-dependent or independent relaxation can be assessed
- on KCl response
- on others relevant physiological precontracted states (endothelin-1, oxytocin…)
- Evaluation of mRNA by RT-PCR or protein expression, by immunohistochemistry (IHC) or western-blot (WB), in parallel of organ bath studies.
- Useful to investigate the effect of drugs known to act on erectile smooth muscle or on adrenergic, cholinergic or non-adrenergic non-cholinergic pre-synaptic neuro-transmission.
Source of human tissues sample
Human corpus cavernosum samples are obtained from patients undergoing penile surgery for penile implant as treatment of erectile dysfunction, penile congenital curvature or for Peyronie's disease.
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| Figure 1: Original tracing showing a frequence-response curve to EFS (300 mA, 10 s, 3 ms, 2 to 64 Hz) in human cavernosal tissue. (Pelvipharm, internal data). |
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| Figure 2: Influence of doxazosin on the relaxation induced by sildenafil on norepinephrine-precontracted cavernosal strips. From Oger, S. et al. J Sex Med (2009) : 6(3) : 836-847 |
Endpoints
- Evaluation of the capacity of a drug to inhibit human corpus cavernosum smooth muscle contractions.
- Determination of potency (EC50) and efficiency (Emax) of a drug.
- Determination of the affinity (pA2) of a drug for a human corpus cavernosum receptor.
Related Pelvipharm bibliography
Oger, S. et al.
J Sex Med (2009) : 6(3):836-847
Oger, S. et al.
J Sex Med (2008) : 5(4):935-945
J Sex Med (2009) : 6(3):836-847
Oger, S. et al.
J Sex Med (2008) : 5(4):935-945
Links to applicable Experimental skills
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