Korean J Urol.  2008 Apr;49(4):366-372.

The Effects of Vasopressin and Desmopressin on the Contractile and Relaxation Responses of Rabbit Cavernosal Smooth Muscle

• Shin HO
• Myung SC
• Kim SC
• Lee MY

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the effects of vasopressin and desmopressin on the contractile and relaxative responses of rabbit cavernosal smooth muscle.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Isometric tension studies were conducted to investigate the effects of vasopressin(10(-14)-10(-8)M) and desmopressin(10(-14)- 10(-8)M) on the contraction and relaxation responses of rabbits cavernous muscle strips in an organ bath. The effects of pretreatment with phenylephrine(10(-5)M), L-NAME(10(-5)M) and indomethacin(10(-5)M) on the contraction and relaxation responses of the vasopressin and desmopressin were also investigated. The statistics were analyzed by Student's t-test and ANOVA.
RESULTS
Vasopressin contracted the strips in a dose-dependent manner, while desmopressin did not. The phenylephrine-induced contraction was dose-dependently increased by vasopressin, but it was dose-dependently relaxed by desmopressin. L-NAME pre-treatment did not block the relaxation response, but indomethacin pre-treatment did. Vasopressin- induced contraction occurred the via V(1) receptor, while desmopressin- induced relaxation occurred via the V(2) receptor.
CONCLUSIONS
Vasopressin, in pathophysiological circumstances, would worsen erectile dysfunction. On the contrary, desmopressin, which may induce an endothelium-dependent relaxation of the cavernous smooth muscles, would be good for erectile function.

Keyword

Vasopressins; Desmopressin; Cavernosal smooth muscle; Contraction; Relaxation

MeSH Terms

Baths
Caves
Contracts
Deamino Arginine Vasopressin
Erectile Dysfunction
Indomethacin
Male
Muscle, Smooth
Muscles
NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester
Rabbits
Relaxation
Vasopressins
Deamino Arginine Vasopressin
Indomethacin
NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester
Vasopressins

Figure

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  Fig. 1. Effects of vasopressin and desmopressin on rabbit corpus cavernosal strips. The vasopressin contracts the strips in a dose-dependent manner, but the desmopressin does not contract the strips.

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  Fig. 2. Effects of vasopressin and desmopressin on phenylephrine (10−5M) pre-treated cavernosal smooth muscle strips. Vasopressin contracts the rabbit corpus cavernous the strips in a dose-dependent manner, but in contrast, desmopressin relaxes the rabbit corpus cavernous strips.

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  Fig. 3. Desmopressin relaxes the phenylephrine pre-treated corpus cavernosal smooth muscle strips in a dose-dependent manner (control group: phenylephrine, desmopressin). Yet, L-NAME (10−5 M) pre-treatment did not block the relaxations (L-NAME pretreatment: L-NAME, phenylephrine, desmopressin).

• 

  Fig. 4. Desmopressin relaxes the phenylephrine pre-treated corpus cavernosal smooth muscle strips in a dose-dependent manner (control group: phenylephrine, desmopressin). Yet, indomethacin (10−5M) pre-treatment inhibits the desmopressin induced-relaxations (Indomethacin pretreatment: indomethacin, phenylephrine, desmopressin) (*: p＜0.05).

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