Correlation of Aging with cavernous nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in men

초록

CORRELATION OF AGING WITH CAVERNOUS NITRIC OXIDE SYNTHASE (NOS) IN MEN Dong-Soo Ryu, Yun-Seog Kang, Jun-Kyu Suh, Joa-Jun Kim, Jee-Young Han, and Young- Chae Joo, Ki-Hak Moon. Inchon, Korea (Presented by Dr. Kang). INTRODUCTION: It is not clear whether aging affect penile erection, although aging is considered to be one of the risk factors for erectile dysfunction (ED). Recent report has shown that NOS-containing nerve fibers in the rat penis is reduced with aging while the erectile mechanism appears to remain intact (J. Urol. 157:1088, 1997). We conducted this study to investigate whether aging affects NOS nerve in men in association with potency METHODS: Thirty-three potent men (age range; 21-81 years, mean; 56) and 34 patients with psychogenic ED (age range; 20-55, mean; 41) were subjected to this study and everyone was free from diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic medication, radical pelvic surgery, and other major risk factors to cause ED. Those were classified into 3 age groups; young (n=21, age range; 25-40 years), middle (n=29, 41-60 years) and old age group (n=17, 61-81 years). We investigated international index of erectile function (IIEF) questionnaire and penile biothesiometry data from each subject. Percutaneous gun biopsy of cavernous tissue was performed and NOS- containing nerve fibers were assessed in 5 random fields(power 400x) after NADPH diaphorase staining. These data were compared with those of ED patients with neurogenic cause (n=45). RESULTS: Both the values of IIEF and penile biothesiometry did not show any significant difference among the potent groups. The number of NOS-containing nerve fibers in whole subjects was 64±20 (mean±SD), and those were significantly decreased with aging (young; 75±12, middle; 62±19, old age group; 46±20, p<0.05). However, the level of those in potent group was observed to be significantly higher than age-matched ED group with neurogenic cause (20±12, p<0.005). CONCLUSIONS: The results