Antioxidant treatment with alpha-tocopherol improves erectile function in hypertensive rats.

There is no known treatment for erectile dysfunction (ED) in hypertensive patients. We tested whether or not antioxidative therapy improves ED in the setting of hypertension. Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) were treated with a control chow or an alpha-tocopherol-enriched chow (12 or 24 mg/100 g chow) for 8 weeks.

Treatment with hypotensive agents affects the impaired relaxation of the penile corpus cavernosum in hypertensive rats.

Treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED) in hypertensive subjects remains to be formally established. There is currently no standardized treatment for ED in hypertensive subjects. In this study, we tested our hypothesis that hypotensive drugs would improve impaired relaxation in the corpus cavernosum of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR).

Erectile dysfunction in hypertensive rats results from impairment of the relaxation evoked by neurogenic carbon monoxide and nitric oxide.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) with aging and diabetes mellitus is caused by impairment of the relaxation evoked by nitric oxide (NO) of penile cavernous smooth muscles and arterioles. However, the mechanism of ED in hypertension is unknown. Carbon monoxide (CO), which is produced by heme oxygenase (HO)-2 in the neuronal system is a neurotransmitter and a vasodilator.

Carbon monoxide regulates blood pressure cooperatively with nitric oxide in hypertensive rats.

Both carbon monoxide (CO), the product of heme oxygenase (HO), and nitric oxide (NO) elevate cyclic guanosine monophosphate levels in smooth muscle cells, leading to relaxation of the vessels. We examined the hypothesis that the effect of CO in regulating blood pressure could be augmented in hypertension where the function and/or production of NO is impaired. We used two hypertensive models, a spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR), and a Wistar Kyoto rat (WKY) which was given the NO synthase (NOS) inhibitor N(omega)-nitro- L-arginine (L-NNA).