Genital blood flow in male rats subjected to stress stimuli.

A common opinion among physicians is that some symptoms from the prostate gland are stress-dependent. However, no experimental support for this view has been presented. In the present study blood perfusion of the major genital organs of male rats were measured after they had been subjected to experimental "short- and long-term" stress stimuli. The blood-flow measurements were made by means of a radioactive microsphere technique. The used experimental "short-term" stress reduced the prostatic blood flow by approximately 50 percent. A decreased blood flow and a concomitant atrophy, indicating that the reduction in blood flow has been in force over a prolonged period of time, were noticed in all examined genital organs of the rats subjected to prolonged stress stimuli. The decreases in blood flow and weight were most pronounced in the prostate gland.