Protective effects of nutritional supplementation with arginine and glutamine on the penis of rats submitted to pelvic radiation

Summary Radiotherapy is widely used to treat pelvic malignancies, but normal tissues near the target tumour are often affected. Our aims were thus to determine whether the structural organization of the rat penis is altered by radiation, and whether supplementation with l‐arginine (ARG) or l‐glutami...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Andrology (Oxford) 2014-11, Vol.2 (6), p.943-950
Main Authors: Medeiros, J. L., Costa, W. S., Felix‐Patricio, B., Sampaio, F. J. B., Cardoso, L. E. M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
arginine
Arginine - administration & dosage
Dietary Supplements
erectile dysfunction
glutamine
Glutamine - administration & dosage
Male
Pelvis - radiation effects
penis
Penis - drug effects
Penis - radiation effects
Radiotherapy
Rats
Rats, Wistar
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Summary:Summary Radiotherapy is widely used to treat pelvic malignancies, but normal tissues near the target tumour are often affected. Our aims were thus to determine whether the structural organization of the rat penis is altered by radiation, and whether supplementation with l‐arginine (ARG) or l‐glutamine (GLN) would have protective effects against these alterations. Groups of rats were treated with: no intervention (CONTR); pelvic radiation, followed by sacrifice 7 (RAD7) or 15 (RAD15) days later; and pelvic radiation, daily supplementation with ARG or GLN, followed by sacrifice 7 (RAD7+ARG, RAD7+GLN) or 15 (RAD15+ARG, RAD15+GLN) days after radiation. Structural components in the corpus cavernosum (CC), tunica albuginea of the corpus spongiosum (TACS) and urethral epithelium (UE) were analysed using stereological and immunohistochemical methods. The results showed that in the CC, connective tissue was increased by 18% in RAD15 (p 
ISSN:2047-2919
2047-2927
DOI:10.1111/andr.134