Effect of HongJing I in Treating Erectile Function and Regulating RhoA Pathway in a Rat Model of Bilateral Cavernous Nerve Injury.

Miao-Yong Ye,Jian-Feng Zhao,Hui-Ying Fu,Bo-Dong Lv,Ke Ma,Zeng-Bao Xu,Kang Zhou,Yin-Feng Ma,Fan Zhao,Wen-Jie Huang

doi:10.1155/2019/1083737

Abstract

HongJing I (HJI), a traditional Chinese herbal formula, has been confirmed to be effective for the clinical treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED). However, the mechanism of action of HJI remains unclear. Here, we aimed to investigate the effect and underlying mechanisms of HJI against ED in a rat model of bilateral cavernous nerve injury (BCNI). Rats were divided into five groups: normal control (NC), BCNI-induced ED model (M), M + low-dose HJI (HL), M + medium-dose HJI (HM), and M + high-dose HJI (HH). All groups were treated with normal saline or the relevant drug for 28 consecutive days after inducing BCNI-ED. At the end of the treatment period, the intracavernous pressure (ICP) was recorded, and histological examination was conducted using Masson's trichrome staining. Immunofluorescence staining and western blotting were applied to detect the changes in fibrosis protein and Ras homolog A (RhoA), Rho-associated protein kinase 1 (ROCK1), and ROCK2 expression. We found that HJI effectively improved the ICP in the treatment groups. In addition, RhoA, ROCK1, and ROCK2 expression levels were increased upon BCNI-ED induction, and HJI successfully inhibited cavernosum fibrosis and the activation of RhoA/ROCK2 signaling. Overall, these results suggest that the effects of HJI in attenuating ED may be caused, at least in part, by the suppression of RhoA/ROCK2 signaling and alleviation of fibrosis. However, the precise mechanism surrounding this requires further investigation in future studies.

Highlights

Erectile dysfunction (ED) remains a common consequence of radical pelvic surgeries such as radical prostatectomy, despite the development of effective surgical techniques [1]
Ras homolog A (RhoA)/Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) in postprostatectomy ED has become a major focus of investigation [5, 7,8,9,10,11], which can act on smooth muscle to affect erectile function and attenuate cavernous fibrosis
All animal studies were performed according to the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health. e protocol was approved by the Animal Experimental Ethics Committee of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University. e rats were weighed, randomly divided into five groups, and labeled with picric acid. e rats were divided into the following groups: normal control (NC) + saline; bilateral cavernous nerve injury (BCNI) model (M) + saline; M + low-dose of HongJing I (HJI) (HL) (2.835 g/kg/day); M + medium-dose HJI (HM) (5.67 g/kg/day); and M + high-dose HJI (HH) (11.34 g/kg/ day)

Summary

Introduction

Erectile dysfunction (ED) remains a common consequence of radical pelvic surgeries such as radical prostatectomy, despite the development of effective surgical techniques [1]. Many studies have focused on postsurgery penile rehabilitation through the application of stem cell therapy, gene therapy, and even small-molecule treatment [1, 3]. Most of these remain in the experimental stage and require further study. RhoA/ROCK in postprostatectomy ED has become a major focus of investigation [5, 7,8,9,10,11], which can act on smooth muscle to affect erectile function and attenuate cavernous fibrosis

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