Marchon Roger G, Gregório Bianca M, Costa Waldemar S, Pereira-Sampaio Marco Aurélio, Sampaio Francisco J, De Souza Diogo B
Urogenital Research Unit, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Department of Morphology, Federal Fluminense University, Niterói, RJ, Brazil.
Heliyon. 2023 Jun 5;9(6):e17013. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17013. eCollection 2023 Jun.
To investigate the effects of chronic stress, associated or not with comfort food, on the morphology of the penis.
MATERIALS & METHODS: Thirty-two adult Wistar rats were divided into four experimental groups: Control group (C), receiving standard rat chow, and under normal conditions; Stressed group (S), receiving standard chow, and submitted to stressful situations; Control + comfort food group (C + CF), receiving standard chow and comfort food, and under normal conditions; and Stressed + comfort food group (S + CF), receiving standard chow and comfort food, and submitted to stressful situations. At 10 weeks of age, food supply and stress were initiated. All groups had access to standard chow and water, and groups receiving comfort food also had access to Froot Loops®. Chronic stress was induced by restriction, animals were contained daily in polypropylene tubes for 2 h, for eight weeks. After eight weeks all animals were killed; penises were removed for histomorphometric analysis.
Body mass was similar among the groups. Food intake in S + CF group was lower than in other groups. Concerning food preference, groups C + CF and S + CF preferred comfort food over the standard chow, with this preference being higher in S + CF than in C + CF. The area of the corpora cavernosa without tunica albuginea was lower in group S + CF than in group C. Most interestingly, the surface density of connective tissue in the corpora cavernosa was higher in groups S and S + CF compared to group C. In contrast, smooth muscle surface density was markedly lower in S + CF compared to groups C and C + CF, while group S also had reduced smooth muscle in comparison to group C.
Chronic stress caused a morphological alteration on penile histomorphometry. Also, stress increased the preference for comfort foods which caused more deleterious effects in some parameters.
研究慢性应激（无论是否伴有安慰食品）对阴茎形态的影响。
32只成年Wistar大鼠被分为四个实验组：对照组（C），给予标准大鼠饲料，处于正常条件下；应激组（S），给予标准饲料，并处于应激状态；对照+安慰食品组（C+CF），给予标准饲料和安慰食品，处于正常条件下；应激+安慰食品组（S+CF），给予标准饲料和安慰食品，并处于应激状态。在10周龄时开始提供食物并施加应激。所有组均可获取标准饲料和水，接受安慰食品的组还可获取缤纷乐圈圈糖（Froot Loops®）。通过限制诱导慢性应激，动物每天被置于聚丙烯管中2小时，持续8周。8周后，所有动物被处死；取出阴茎进行组织形态计量分析。
各组间体重相似。S+CF组的食物摄入量低于其他组。关于食物偏好，C+CF组和S+CF组相较于标准饲料更喜欢安慰食品，且S+CF组的这种偏好高于C+CF组。S+CF组白膜下海绵体的面积低于C组。最有趣的是，与C组相比，S组和S+CF组海绵体中结缔组织的表面密度更高。相反，与C组和C+CF组相比，S+CF组平滑肌表面密度显著降低，而S组相较于C组平滑肌也有所减少。
慢性应激导致阴茎组织形态计量学发生形态改变。此外，应激增加了对安慰食品的偏好，这在某些参数上产生了更有害的影响。
