title: Ultrastructural changes of penile tunica albuginea in diabetic rats.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To clarify the ultrastructural changes of penile tunica albuginea (TA) in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Intraperitoneal injection of STZ was used to induce diabetes mellitus (DM) in 12 Sprague Dawley rats. Ten rats (age and weight-matched) were used as control. Blood samples from the tail snips of the rats were used for the determination of serum glucose levels with SureStep Plus Blood Meter. At week 4 and 10 after the injection, half of the rats in each group were sacrificed and penile samples were obtained from the middle third of the penile shaft for the examination of TA under scanning electron microscopy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the diabetic group, the serum glucose levels were higher (P<0.01 at both time points) and the TA were thinner (P<0.05) than those of the controls. In the control group, the fibers of TA were rich and arranged regularly and undulated, while in the diabetic group, the fibers were diminished, lost the undulations and were arranged irregularly.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In rats, DM appeared to impair the penile TA ultrastructures and this impairment could contribute to diabetic erectile dysfunction in part by impairing the veno-occlusive function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310016, China.
authors.forename: Ying-Li
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Zhou-Jun
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shan-Wen
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xie-Lai
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Zhao-Dian
authors.initials: ZD
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D010413:Penis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose