title: N-acetylcysteine Ameliorates the Erectile Dysfunction Caused by Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia in Rats: Partly Involvement of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To conduct a study using a rodent model of chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) to define whether endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) is involved in the CIH-induced apoptosis of penile tissue and erectile dysfunction (ED), and whether treatment with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) alleviates pathological variations in corpus cavernosa. Previous work has prompted that CIH acted as the major trigger linking obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and ED.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five-month-old Sprague-Dawley male rats were subjected to 8 hours of intermittent hypoxia per day, with or without NAC for 5 weeks. Erectile function, apoptosis of penile tissue, levels of ERS-associated proapoptotic effectors, and nitric oxide (NO) and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Treatment with NAC inhibited apoptosis of penile tissue, the expressions of ERS-related products: BIP, CHOP, caspase12, and Bax, NO, and endothelial NOS. Administration of NAC before CIH significantly improved the CIH-induced impaired erectile function.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results show that pre-CIH NAC administration ameliorates the ED following CIH partly by alleviating CIH-induced ERS and cell apoptosis via regulating the expressions of BIP, CHOP, caspase12, and Bax.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Die
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Yueying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Zhihua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Xueling
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. Electronic address: hgliu@tjh.tjmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Huiguo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000111:Acetylcysteine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D059865:Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress / Q000187:drug effects*; D007172:Erectile Dysfunction / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers / Q000494:pharmacology; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D016166:Free Radical Scavengers; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D000111:Acetylcysteine