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Effects of prolonged ingestion of epigallocatechin gallate on diabetes type 1-induced vascular modifications in the erectile tissue of rats

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 28, pages 133–138 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Diabetes Mellitus type 1 is a metabolic disease that predisposes to erectile dysfunction, partly owing to structural and molecular changes in the corpus cavernosum (CC) vessels. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of early treatment with the antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) in cavernous diabetes-induced vascular modifications. Diabetes was induced in two groups of young Wistar rats; one group was treated with EGCG for 10 weeks. A reduction in smooth muscle content was observed in the CC of diabetic rats, which was significantly attenuated with EGCG consumption. No differences were observed among groups, neither in the expression of VEGF assayed by western blotting nor in the immunofluorescent labeling of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptors (VEGFR1 and VEGFR2). VEGFR2 was restricted to the endothelium, whereas VEGF and VEGFR1 co-localized in the smooth muscle layer. With regard to the Angiopoietin/Tie-2 system, no quantitative differences in Angiopoietin 1 were observed among the experimental groups. Ang1 localization was restricted to the smooth muscle layer, and receptor Tie2 and Angiopoietin 2 were both expressed in the endothelium. In brief, our results suggest that EGCG consumption prevented diabetes-induced loss of cavernous smooth muscle but does not affect vascular growth factor expression in young rats.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Doctor Inês Tomada (Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto) for her contribution in the CC morphometrical analysis. The study was funded by EU Project REDDSTAR (FP7-Health-2012.2.4.3-1) and by the grant IJUP/UNICER 2010.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    C Lombo, C Morgado, I Tavares & D Neves

  2. I3S Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Portugal, IBMC – Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Porto, Portugal

    C Lombo, C Morgado, I Tavares & D Neves

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  1. C Lombo
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Correspondence to D Neves.

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Lombo, C., Morgado, C., Tavares, I. et al. Effects of prolonged ingestion of epigallocatechin gallate on diabetes type 1-induced vascular modifications in the erectile tissue of rats. Int J Impot Res 28, 133–138 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijir.2016.19

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