[Efficacy of leech powder on hyperlipidaemia-associated erectile dysfunction in male rats].

Objective: To investigate the therapeutic effect of the Chinese medicine leech powder (LP) on hyperlipidaemia-associated ED (HLED) in male rats.

Methods: We randomly divided 50 eight-week-old male SD rats into five groups, blank control, HLED model control, tadalafil and low- and high-dose leech powder. After establishment of the HLED model by high-fat diet, we treated the rats in the latter three groups by intragastric administration of tadalafil at 5 mg/kg/d, LP at 0.3 g/kg/d and LP at 1.8 g/kg/d, respectively, all for 4 weeks. We examined the erectile function of the rats by mating experiment, apomorphine assay, and measurement of intracavernosal pressure (ICP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP), obtained the levels of blood glucose, lipid, serum total superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA) and oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL), observed the pathological changes in the rat liver and penile tissue by HE staining, and determined the expressions of NF-κB, MCP-1 and PDE5A in penile tissue by Western blot.

Results: Compared with the HLED model controls, all the rats in the tadalafil and LP intervention groups showed significantly improved erectile function (P < 0.05), increased erection frequency, ICPmax and ICPmax/MAP ratio, even more significantly in the LP groups; the levels of LDL, TC and TG were remarkably decreased in the three treatment groups (P < 0.05), most significantly in the low-dose LP group; the content of SOD was markedly increased while those of MDA and ox-LDL decreased after intervention (P < 0.05). The results of Western blot revealed that the expressions of NF-κB and MCP-1 in the testis tissue was down-regulated in the tadalafil and high-dose LP groups while that of PDE5A up-regulated in the tadalafil and low-dose LP groups.

Conclusion: Leech powder can improve erectile function in male rats with hyperlipidaemia-associated ED by reducing blood lipid levels and oxidative stress, which may related to the NF-κB signaling pathway.