Angiotensin II Silencing Alleviates Erectile Dysfunction Through Down-Regulating the Rhoa/Rho Kinase Signaling Pathway in Rats with Diabetes Mellitus.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We aim to explore the role of angiotensin (Ang)II and the RhoA/Rho kinase signaling pathway in the pathogenesis of erectile dysfunction in diabetes mellitus (DM).

METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were used for experiments and short hairpin RNA (shRNA) was used to silence the AngII gene. The erectile function of rats was observed and intracavernous pressure and mean arterial pressure (ICP/MAP) were measured after electrical stimulation. Relaxation and contraction of smooth muscle in the corpus cavernosum were tested. Western blotting and quantitative RT-PCR were applied to measure the expressions of RhoA, Rho-associated kinase (ROCK)1 and ROCK2. Radioimmunoassay was applied to detect the levels of AngII.

RESULTS: Rats in the control group had the most erectile times, followed by AngII-silenced rats with DMED and rats with DMED. Rats with DMED had worse ICP and MAP than AngII-silenced rats. The contraction ability was markedly improved and relaxation ability was decreased in AngII-silenced rats with DMED as compared with rats with DMED. The levels of AngII were significantly increased in DMED rats while significantly decreased after AngII silencing. The mRNA and proteins of RhoA and ROCK2 were expressed in a similar way.

CONCLUSION: AngII silencing improves erectile dysfunction via down-regulating the RhoA/Rho kinase signaling pathway.