Sex Med Rev. 2020 Jan;8(1):114-121. doi: 10.1016/j.sxmr.2019.09.003. Epub 2019 Oct 22.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells Treatment for Erectile Dysfunction in Diabetic Rats.

Kim SW¹, Zhu GQ¹, Bae WJ².

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:

Aging men with diabetes mellitus are more easily suffering from erectile dysfunction (ED), which was poor to respond to drugs. Mesenchymal stem cell treatment (MSCT) offers us an alternative approach that might reverse diabetes mellitus erectile dysfunction (DMED).

AIM:

The aim of this study was to review the current studies investigating mesenchymal stem cell approach in diabetic rat models of ED for future research.

METHODS:

A medical literature search was performed in PubMed by using the keywords including erectile dysfunction, mesenchymal stem cells, diabetes mellitus, and rat model.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE:

Representative studies on DMED rats treated by MSCT were reviewed.

RESULTS:

Streptozocin-induced type 1 diabetes mellitus rats were used in most studies because of cost and convenience. With the development of stem cell treatment for DMED research, many kinds of stem cells were used in animal experiment, such as bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells, adipose-derived stem cells, human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells, muscle-derived stem cells, urine-derived stem cells, neural crest stem cells, and endothelial progenitor cells. Although diverse stem cells were applied for DMED treatment, the mechanism behind these approaches was identical, including improving vascular injury, recovering smooth muscle, restoring neuronal cells, inhibiting the generation of inflammatory cytokines, homing mesenchymal stem cells, and decreasing apoptosis in corpus cavernosum. Meanwhile, combination therapies, including MSCT with drug, herb, and low-energy extracorporeal shockwave treatment showed satisfactory results for ED.

CONCLUSION:

It has been proved that MSCT is an effective and safe treatment for the DMED rats. What's more, MSCT might be a potential and promising approach for patients with DMED as a minimally invasive treatment. Combination of MSCT with various methods was proved to be a more efficient treatment and dependable option to make up for deficiencies of MSCT. Kim SW, Zhu GQ, Bae WJ. Mesenchymal Stem Cells Treatment for Erectile Dysfunction in Diabetic Rats. Sex Med Rev 2020;8:114-121.