Establishing a Thermal Imaging Technology (IRT) Based System for Evaluating Rat Erectile Function.

Abstract

IntroductionMeasurement of intra-cavernous pressure (ICP) is an internationally recognized method to evaluate erectile function of animals, however, this process is invasive, destructive, and cannot be repeated, leading to a daunting challenge for monitoring the changes in erectile function throughout the whole treatment duration.AimTo verify whether infrared ray thermography technology based system could be a good substitution of ICP for evaluating rat erectile function.MethodsA novel thermal image-based method, infrared ray thermography technology (IRT) was employed to monitor erectile function in erectile dysfunction (ED) rats. To detect the sensitivity and specificity of this new technology, 4 ED rat models (Diabetic, nerve-injury, vascular-injury and aged ED models) were established and subjected to both ICP and IRT test.OutcomesStatistical comparisons were done to test the effectiveness of this new way for detecting and dynamically monitoring erectile function.ResultsBased on the data curves obtained from ICP and IRT, the IRT showed a similar trend (including peak value, climbing speed) as that of ICP. IRT is considered as a precise way to monitor the real-time changes of erectile function in all ED rat models. The AUC of peak temperature detected by IRT in DMED, aged ED, vascular-injury ED, the nerve-injury ED and total ED rat models were 0.9811,0.9836,0.9893,0.9989 and 0.9882, respectively. Meanwhile, the AUC of temperature climbing rate were 0.6486,0.8357,0.9184,0.8675and 0.8168.Also,it is a non-invasive process of dynamically monitoring erectile function of a same rat at different time points (before and after drug intervention). The data showed that the real-time recovery by tadalafil was obtained by IRT methods even after treatment for only 2 weeks in the diabetic ED (DMED) rat model.ConclusionA novel noninvasive method for monitoring erectile function in rat ED models was established, and can replace or supplement ICP test.Liu S, Zhao Z, Wang Z et al. Establishing a Thermal Imaging Technology (IRT) Based System for Evaluating Rat Erectile Function. Sex Med 2022;10:100475.