Abstract:

Although the remaining nerve tissue can regenerate and partly restore erectile function when the cavernous nerve is compressed/severed and function lost, the limited regenerative ability of these nerve tissues often fails to meet clinical needs. Adipose-derived stem cells are easy to obtain and culture, and can differentiate into neural cells. Their proliferation rate is easy to control and they may be used to help restore injured cavernous nerve function. Sprague-Dawley male rats (n = 45) were equally randomized into three groups: fifteen rats as a sham-op¬erated group, fifteen rats as a bilateral nerve crush (BINC) group (with no further intervention), fifteen rats as a BINC with intracavernous injection of one million neural-like cells from adipose-derived stem cells (NAS) (BINC + NAS) group. After 4 weeks, erectile function was assessed by stimulating the cavernous body. The number of myelinated axons in the dorsal cavernous nerve was determined by toluidine blue staining. The area of neuronal nitric oxide synthase-positive fibers in the dorsal penile nerve was measured by immunohistochemical staining. Masson staining was used to analyze the ratio of smooth muscle to collagen in penile tissue. The results demonstrate that maxi¬mal intracavernous pressure, the ratio of maximal intracavernous pressure to mean arterial pressure, the numbers of myelinated axons and neuronal nitric oxide synthase-positive fibers in the dorsal penile nerve, and the ratio of smooth muscle to collagen could be increased after cell transplantation. These findings indicate that neural-like cells from adipose-derived stem cells can effectively alleviate cavernous nerve injury and improve erectile function.

Key words: nerve regeneration, adipose-derived neural stem cells, corpus cavernosum, cavernous nerve, erectile dysfunction, radical prostatectomy, neurons, cell differentiation, neural regeneration