Xu Lijun, Xue Boxin, Shan Yuxi, Chen Dong, Gao Jie, Yang Dongrong, Sun Chuanyang, Cui Yong
Department of Urinary Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215004, P.R. China.
Exp Ther Med. 2014 Jul;8(1):274-280. doi: 10.3892/etm.2014.1710. Epub 2014 May 14.
The aim of the present study was to determine the presence of muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) in the corpus cavernosum of rats. Immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were performed to detect the expression of the stem cell markers stem cell antigen-1 (Sca-1), Oct4 and Desmin in Sprague-Dawley rats aged 2, 5 and 20 months. Sca-1 was mainly expressed in the blood vessels and cavernous sinus and staining revealed that Sca-1 was predominantly expressed in the cytoplasm. Desmin was primarily expressed in muscular tissues and staining demonstrated that it was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm, however, Desmin was also partially expressed in the nuclei. A small number of double positive cells, expressing Sca-1 and Desmin, were also detected near the cavernous sinus. It was found that the expression of the markers was negatively correlated with the age of the rats (P<0.05). The results from the RT-PCR demonstrated that the expression levels of Sca-1 and Desmin significantly decreased with age (P<0.05). In addition, the correlation analysis indicated that the expression of Sca-1 and Desmin were negatively correlated with the age of the rats (r=--0.929; P<0.05). In conclusion, the present study provided evidence for the presence of MDSCs in the rat corpus cavernosum. MDSCs may be a potential therapeutic treatment for organic erectile dysfunction.
本研究的目的是确定大鼠阴茎海绵体中肌肉衍生干细胞（MDSCs）的存在情况。对2、5和20月龄的Sprague-Dawley大鼠进行免疫组织化学和逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR），以检测干细胞标志物干细胞抗原-1（Sca-1）、Oct4和结蛋白的表达。Sca-1主要表达于血管和海绵窦，染色显示Sca-1主要在细胞质中表达。结蛋白主要表达于肌肉组织，染色表明其主要在细胞质中表达，然而，结蛋白也部分表达于细胞核。在海绵窦附近也检测到少量同时表达Sca-1和结蛋白的双阳性细胞。发现这些标志物的表达与大鼠年龄呈负相关（P<0.05）。RT-PCR结果表明，Sca-1和结蛋白的表达水平随年龄显著降低（P<0.05）。此外，相关性分析表明，Sca-1和结蛋白的表达与大鼠年龄呈负相关（r=-0.929；P<0.05）。总之，本研究为大鼠阴茎海绵体中存在MDSCs提供了证据。MDSCs可能是治疗器质性勃起功能障碍的一种潜在疗法。
