Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2009, 217(3)

Restraint Stress Impairs Erectile Responses in Rats

ERSIN BAL,¹ NERGIS MURAT,² OMER DEMIR,³ BURAK CEM SONER,⁴ ERTAN CAN,¹ SEDEF GIDENER⁴ and ADIL ESEN³

¹Urology Department, Tepecik Training Hospital, Izmir, Turkey
²Advanced Professional School of Health Sciences, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey
³Department of Urology, Medical Faculty, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey
⁴Department of Pharmacology, Medical Faculty, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey

It has been established that various forms of physical and psychological stress reduce sexual functions. However, there is no study yet evaluating the functional changes over cavernosal pressure in rats exposed to restraint stress. In this study, we aimed to investigate the convenience of the restraint stress model that may be used to determine the disruptive effects of stress on erectile function. Sprague Dawley rats were randomized into two groups as control (n = 7) and stress (n = 7) groups. In the stress group, rats were placed for 60 minutes in a cylindrical plastic tube with holes for fresh air supply (restraint stress). Following the stress application, several parameters for erectile responses were evaluated immediately. The control animals were maintained at room temperature without any procedure until the measurement. During the electrical stimulation of cavernous nerve, we measured the intracavernous pressure (ICP), the ratio of ICP to the mean arterial pressure (MAP), and detumescence time. There were significant decreases in ICP (24.4 ± 4.1 vs 53.4 ± 4.5 mmHg, p < 0.01), ICP/MAP (34.4 ± 7.8% vs 55.7 ± 3.9%, p < 0.05), and detumescence time (31.7 ± 6.1 vs 78.6 ± 12.8 sec, p < 0.01) in stress group when compared to control group. Thus, restraint stress declined detumescence time and decreased intracavernosal pressure in male rats. In conclusion, restraint stress model in rats may be useful for determining the effects of stress on erectile response. Even a short-term restraint stress may cause erectile dysfunction.

keywords —— Erectile Dysfunction; Restraint Stress; Intracavernosal Pressure; Rat; In vivo.

© 2009 Tohoku University Medical Press

===============================

Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2009, 217, 239-242

Correspomdence: Omer Demir, Department of Urology, Medical Faculty, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey.

e-mail: omer.demir@deu.edu.tr