Do you have questions men's health related?
Please send them!
If you have a question related to men's health, please fill the form bellow.
1. It is a must to provide a valid email, unless you want your questions to be ignored.
We won't make your email public, but we like to talk with live persons.
2. To protect
your identity, take care the name you fill. We make public your name exactly as it is.
|
Public release date: 07 April 2010
[
]
75% of men with diabetes will develop some degree of erectile dysfunction
Erectile dysfunction (ED) is one of the most prevalent diabetes-induced complications in men. Current data suggest
that as many as 75% of
men with diabetes will develop some degree of ED, and in many cases diabetics develop more
severe forms of
erectile dysfunction that are less responsive to standard drugs.
In a recent study researchers at Case Western Reserve University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine have
identified some of the molecular changes that accompany the onset of diabetes-induced ED, which may lead to markers
that will help identify
erectile dysfunction risk as well as new potential drug targets.
The research team used a proteomics approach to examine the relative abundance of proteins in the corpora
(the expandable tissues along the length of the penis which fill with blood during erection) of diabetic rats at
two different stages of progression: one week and two months after the onset of diabetes. By comparing these rats
to healthy age-matched controls, they identified 57 proteins in the penile tissue that either increased or
decreased during diabetes.
The candidate proteins revealed insights into the mechanics of
erectile dysfunction; perhaps not surprisingly,
collagen proteins that provide strength and stiffness were down-regulated in
diabetes, as were proteins that transport
sex hormones. Meanwhile, proteins involved in cell death (apoptosis) were up-regulated, as were many proteins related
to fat metabolism, changes that might be related to narrowing or hardening of blood vessels.
Mark Chance, the study leader, and colleagues note that the rat model they used in the study mimics many relevant
features of human erectile dysfunction, and thus the identification of these 57 candidate proteins could open up
further and more detailed studies into the relationship between diabetes and
erectile dysfunction in humans, and also lead to
diagnostic and drug targets.
# # #
Source:
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
|
|
