Improvement of penile neurogenic and endothelial relaxant responses by chronic administration of resveratrol in rabbits exposed to unpredictable chronic mild stress

• Published in: International journal of impotence research Vol. 30; no. 4; pp. 163 - 170
• Main Authors: Yazir, Yusufhan, Utkan, Tijen, Şahin, Tuğçe Demirtaş, Gocmez, Semil Selcen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01-08-2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/477; 692/699/2768/1575; Animals; Care and treatment; Depression (Mood disorder); Electric fields; Endothelium; Endothelium, Vascular - drug effects; Endothelium, Vascular - physiopathology; Erectile dysfunction; Erectile Dysfunction - physiopathology; Health aspects; Impotence; Inflammation; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Muscle Relaxation - drug effects; Neurophysiology; Nitric oxide; Nitrogen oxides; Penis - drug effects; Penis - physiopathology; Physiological aspects; Public health; Rabbits; Reproductive Medicine; Resveratrol; Resveratrol - pharmacology; rology; Sexual disorders; Stress (Psychology); Stress, Psychological - physiopathology; Urology
• ISSN: 0955-9930; 1476-5489
• DOI: 10.1038/s41443-018-0016-8

Chronic stress is an important public health problem known as a risk factor for depression, cognitive deficits, and also erectile dysfunction (ED). Resveratrol, a plant polyphenol, was reported to activate constitutive endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). Although resveratrol has been proven to exert beneficial effects on the unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS)-induced decline in cognitive functions, its potential protecting effect on the penile tissue subjected to UCMS was in fact not investigated. Therefore, restorative effects of resveratrol on neurogenic and endothelium-dependent relaxations were evaluated in the corpus cavernosum of rabbits exposed to UCMS. Eighteen male New Zealand white rabbits were assigned into three groups (
n
 = 6 in each group): controls; UCMS; and UCMS rabbits treated with resveratrol (20 mg/kg/day, i.p.) for 12-week period of stress induction. UCMS was induced by a couple of defined adverse conditions applied in a shuffled order for 12 weeks. Neurogenic and endothelium-dependent relaxations of corpus cavernosum were assessed by using organ bath studies. Both the electrical field stimulation (EFS)-induced neurogenic and carbachol-induced endothelium-dependent relaxant responses significantly decreased in physiological stress and resveratrol treatment exhibited a marked improvement in these relaxation responses in vitro. Our results indicated that chronic psychological stress could lead to ED by reducing neurogenic and endothelium-dependent relaxations and resveratrol prevents impairment of the functional responses, suggesting a potential new treatment approach for treatment of ED during psychological stress.