Sildenafil relaxes rabbit clitoral corpus cavernosum

The role of phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibition in the modulation of female sexual dysfunction was investigated by assessing its effects on in vitro relaxation of rabbit clitoris. Stimulation of the non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic neurons of the clitorus elicited a frequency-dependent relaxation res...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Life sciences (1973) 2000-05, Vol.67 (1), p.23-29
Main Authors: Vemulapalli, Subbarao, Kurowski, Stanley
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
3',5'-Cyclic-GMP Phosphodiesterases - antagonists & inhibitors
Animals
Clitoris
Clitoris - drug effects
Clitoris - innervation
Clitoris - physiology
Electric Stimulation
Female
Guanylate Cyclase - antagonists & inhibitors
L-NAME
Muscle Relaxation - drug effects
Muscle Relaxation - physiology
Muscle, Smooth - drug effects
Muscle, Smooth - innervation
NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester - pharmacology
Nitric Oxide - physiology
Nitric Oxide Synthase - antagonists & inhibitors
Oxadiazoles - pharmacology
Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors - pharmacology
Piperazines - pharmacology
Purines
Quinoxalines - pharmacology
Rabbits
Sildenafil
Sildenafil Citrate
Sulfones
Synaptic Transmission - drug effects
Synaptic Transmission - physiology
Tetrodotoxin - pharmacology
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The role of phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibition in the modulation of female sexual dysfunction was investigated by assessing its effects on in vitro relaxation of rabbit clitoris. Stimulation of the non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic neurons of the clitorus elicited a frequency-dependent relaxation response. Inhibition of NO synthase with L-NAME (100 μM) or inhibition of soluble guanylate cyclase with ODQ (1.0 μM) almost completely abolished the electrical field stimulation-induced relaxation of clitorus suggesting that NO-cGMP pathway mediates the relaxation response to electrical field stimulation. Similarly, tetrodotoxin, a neuronal sodium channel blocker abolished the electrical field stimulation-induced clitoral relaxation implying a neuronal release of NO contributes to the electrical field stimulation elicited relaxation. Pretreatment of the clitoral corpus cavernosum strips with sildenafil (100 nM) enhanced the electrical field stimulation-induced relaxations both in magnitude and duration. The results suggest that sildenafil enhances electrical field stimulation elicited clitoral relaxation by a NO-cGMP dependent pathway. These data also imply that sildenafil may be useful to treat female sexual dysfunction.
ISSN:0024-3205
1879-0631
DOI:10.1016/S0024-3205(00)00596-8