Restoration of erectile function by reconstructing cavernous nerves with small intestinal submucosa grafts.
- Author:
Hong-Kai LU
1
;
Hai-Jun ZHOU
;
En-Jiang GAO
;
Lu-Jie SONG
;
Hai-Zhen ZUO
;
Bo YAN
;
Zhi-Yong YU
;
Jing DU
;
Wen-Hua BI
Author Information
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH: Animals; Erectile Dysfunction; surgery; Intestinal Mucosa; transplantation; Intestine, Small; Male; Nerve Regeneration; Nerve Tissue; injuries; surgery; Penile Erection; Penis; innervation; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley
- From: National Journal of Andrology 2010;16(2):150-153
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVETo investigate the restoration of erectile function by reconstructing cavernous nerves (CN) with small intestinal submucosa (SIS) grafts.
METHODSWe prepared SIS grafts, established rat models and divided the models into a CN ablation, a sham-operation and an SIS graft group. The CNs at both sides were severed with 1 cm ablated in the first group, and 0.5 cm removed in the third, followed by reconstruction with the SIS grafts. Three months after surgery, the apomorphine test was performed to evaluate the erectile function, and then all the rats were sacrificed to detect the expression of nNOS in the penis.
RESULTSPenile erection was observed in 72.73% (8/11) of the rats for (1.07 +/- 0.89) times within 30 min in the SIS graft group, as compared with 0% (0/11) of the rats for (0.00 +/- 0.00) times in the CN ablation group (P < 0.01), and 90.91% (10/11) of the rats for (2.19 +/- 1.17) times in the sham-operation group (P < 0.01). The number of nNOS nerve fibers was significantly larger in the SIS graft than in the CN ablation group (70.36 +/- 10.09 versus 22.09 +/- 4.76, P < 0.01), but both were significantly smaller than that of the sham-operation group (90.81 +/- 5.69, P < 0.01).
CONCLUSIONThe SIS grafting technique contributes to the recanalization of the severed CN and restoration of erectile function in rats after surgical injury.
