BACKGROUND

A Erectile dysfunction (ED) is one of the well-known comorbidities in males with diabetes mellitus (DM), whose pathogenesis might be induced by dysregulation of corpus cavernosum smooth muscle cells. UC-MSCs are multipotent cells that attract considerable interest due to immunoregulatory properties and might be a potential strategy to regulate and recover the functional cells and tissues, including tissue improvement in DMED.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to determine the efficacy of UC-MSCs in improving the erectile function of DMED rats through analyzing the expression of TGF-β, α-SMA, and collagen.

METHODS

Total number of 30 male Sprague-Dawley rats (6 to 8 weeks old) were randomly divided into four groups (negative control group, positive control group, T1 group, and T2 group). After 16 h fast, 24 rats were randomly selected and intraperitoneally injected with streptozotocin to induce DM. At 8 weeks after STZ injection, rats with DMED were identified by unresponsive erectile stimulation within 30 min. PC group received 500 μL; T1 rats treated with 500 μL PBS containing 1x106 UC-MSCs; T2 rats treated with 500 μL PBS containing 3x106 UC-MSCs. After MSCs treatment, the rats were sacrificed and the corpus cavernosum tissues were prepared for histological observations.

RESULTS

This study resulted in the administration of UC-MSCs could downregulate the expression of TGF-β, α-SMA, and collagen leading to the improvement of DMED.

CONCLUSION

UC-MSCs improve the expression of TGF-β, α-SMA, and collagen on erectile dysfunction in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.