Steers W D, McConnell J, Benson G S
J Urol. 1984 Nov;132(5):1048-53. doi: 10.1016/s0022-5347(17)49997-6.
Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide is hypothesized to be a nonadrenergic, noncholinergic neurotransmitter important in the physiology of penile erection. To further explore this concept, anatomical localization of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, in vitro muscle bath studies and in vivo injection experiments were undertaken in the monkey and man. Using immunohistochemical techniques vasoactive intestinal polypeptide was localized at the light microscopic level to nerves within the monkey and human penis. Ultrastructurally, a modified peroxidase-antiperoxidase technique was used to identify large vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-positive vesicles within peptidergic and cholinergic varicosities. In the in vitro muscle bath, the addition of 10(-7) M vasoactive intestinal polypeptide did not alter the baseline tension of strips of monkey and human corpus cavernosum. During contraction produced by norepinephrine stimulation, however, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (10(-7) M) caused relaxation of the monkey (41 +/- 18 per cent, no. = 8) and human (23 +/- 8 per cent, no. = 5) corpus cavernosum. Intracorporal injection of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (0.75 X 10(-9) to 3.75 X 10(-9) moles/kg.) had no effect on the monkey penis. Administration of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (1.25 X 10(-9) to 2.5 X 10(-9) moles/kg.) into the internal iliac artery of the monkey, while having no effect on the flaccid penis, caused detumescence of the erect penis obtained by cavernous nerve stimulation (2-5 V, 40 Hz, 2 msec.). Although vasoactive intestinal polypeptide can be found within the nerves of the penis, its apparent in vitro and in vivo effects raise further questions concerning the role of this peptide in penile erection.
血管活性肠肽被认为是一种在阴茎勃起生理过程中起重要作用的非肾上腺素能、非胆碱能神经递质。为了进一步探讨这一概念，对猴子和人类进行了血管活性肠肽的解剖定位、体外肌肉浴研究和体内注射实验。利用免疫组织化学技术，在光学显微镜水平上确定了血管活性肠肽在猴子和人类阴茎内的神经中。在超微结构上，采用改良的过氧化物酶-抗过氧化物酶技术，在肽能和胆碱能曲张体内鉴定出大型血管活性肠肽阳性囊泡。在体外肌肉浴中，添加10（-7）M血管活性肠肽不会改变猴子和人类海绵体条带的基线张力。然而，在去甲肾上腺素刺激引起收缩期间，血管活性肠肽（10（-7）M）可使猴子（41±18%，n = 8）和人类（23±8%，n = 5）海绵体松弛。海绵体内注射血管活性肠肽（0.75×10（-9）至3.75×10（-9）摩尔/千克）对猴子阴茎没有影响。向猴子的髂内动脉注射血管活性肠肽（1.25×10（-9）至2.5×10（-9）摩尔/千克），虽然对疲软阴茎没有影响，但可使通过海绵体神经刺激（2 - 5V，40Hz，2毫秒）获得的勃起阴茎消肿。尽管在阴茎神经中可以发现血管活性肠肽，但其在体外和体内的明显作用引发了关于该肽在阴茎勃起中作用的进一步问题。
