TY - JOUR
T1 - Erectile dysfunction resulting from pelvic surgery is associated with changes in cavernosal gene expression indicative of cavernous nerve injury
AU - Villegas, Guillermo
AU - Tar, Moses Tarndie
AU - Davies, Kelvin Paul
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH
PY - 2022/2
Y1 - 2022/2
N2 - Pelvic surgery, even without direct cavernous nerve injury, carries a high risk of post-operative erectile dysfunction. The present studies were aimed at identifying molecular mechanisms by which pelvic surgery results in erectile dysfunction. As a model of pelvic surgery, male Sprague–Dawley rats underwent pelvic laparotomy, avoiding direct cavernous nerve injury. A second group of animals, serving as a model of direct cavernous nerve injury, underwent bilateral transection of the cavernous nerve. Cavernosometry demonstrated, that even in the absence of direct nerve injury, the pelvic surgery model exhibited significant erectile dysfunction 3 days post-operatively. Gene expression profiling also demonstrated that even in this animal model of nerve-sparing pelvic surgery, the profile of differentially expressed genes in cavernosal tissue was indicative of cavernous nerve injury. In addition, although 6 hr after surgery there were significant changes in circulating cytokine/chemokine levels, an inflammatory response in the major pelvic ganglion, cavernous nerve and cavernosal tissue was only observed 3 days post-surgery. Our results validate a rat model of pelvic surgery exhibiting erectile dysfunction and suggest systemic release of cytokines/chemokines following surgical trauma might mediate a pathological inflammatory response in tissues distal to the site of surgical trauma, indirectly resulting in cavernous nerve injury and erectile dysfunction.
AB - Pelvic surgery, even without direct cavernous nerve injury, carries a high risk of post-operative erectile dysfunction. The present studies were aimed at identifying molecular mechanisms by which pelvic surgery results in erectile dysfunction. As a model of pelvic surgery, male Sprague–Dawley rats underwent pelvic laparotomy, avoiding direct cavernous nerve injury. A second group of animals, serving as a model of direct cavernous nerve injury, underwent bilateral transection of the cavernous nerve. Cavernosometry demonstrated, that even in the absence of direct nerve injury, the pelvic surgery model exhibited significant erectile dysfunction 3 days post-operatively. Gene expression profiling also demonstrated that even in this animal model of nerve-sparing pelvic surgery, the profile of differentially expressed genes in cavernosal tissue was indicative of cavernous nerve injury. In addition, although 6 hr after surgery there were significant changes in circulating cytokine/chemokine levels, an inflammatory response in the major pelvic ganglion, cavernous nerve and cavernosal tissue was only observed 3 days post-surgery. Our results validate a rat model of pelvic surgery exhibiting erectile dysfunction and suggest systemic release of cytokines/chemokines following surgical trauma might mediate a pathological inflammatory response in tissues distal to the site of surgical trauma, indirectly resulting in cavernous nerve injury and erectile dysfunction.
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U2 - 10.1111/and.14247
DO - 10.1111/and.14247
M3 - Article
C2 - 34514620
AN - SCOPUS:85114741019
SN - 0303-4569
VL - 54
JO - Andrologia
JF - Andrologia
IS - 1
M1 - e14247
ER -