Yang Luan, Yajun Ruan, Tao Wang, Li Zhuan, Zheng Wen, Ruibao Chen, Yan Zhang, Kai Cui, Jun Yang, Shaogang Wang, Jihong Liu, Zhangqun Ye, Daowen Wang
INTRODUCTION: Human tissue kallikrein 1 (hKLK1) has enormous potential for the protection of vasodilation and endothelial function in the cardiovascular system. Our previous study proved the decreased expression of kallikrein 1 in the corpus cavernosum (CC) of aged rats, but the role of kallikrein 1 in age-related erectile dysfunction remains unknown. AIM: To explore the effect and underlying mechanisms of hKLK1 on age-related erectile dysfunction. METHODS: Male wild-type Sprague-Dawley rats (WTR) and transgenic rats harboring the hKLK1 gene (TGR) were fed to 4 and 27 months of age, respectively, and divided into four groups: young WTR (yWTR) as the control, young TGR (yTGR), aged WTR (aWTR), and aged TGR (aTGR)...
September 2016: Journal of Sexual Medicine