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. 2002 Mar 19;99(6):4061–4066. doi: 10.1073/pnas.052712499

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Electrical stimulation of the cavernous nerve enhances phosphorylation of Akt-S473 and eNOS-S1177 in the rat penis. (a) Representative Western immunoblots of phospho-Akt-S473 and total Akt (top two rows) or phospho-eNOS-S1177 and total eNOS (bottom two rows) after electrical stimulation of the cavernous nerve for 0 sec, 15 sec, or 5 min. Gel shift of phosphorylated form in the total Akt blot is consistent with phospho-Akt staining. HEK293 cells transfected with a plasmid expressing Akt or eNOS were starved of serum for 24 h [(−) serum] to abolish Akt activity or starved and then stimulated with 50 ng/ml insulin-like growth factor-1 for 5 min [(+) serum] as controls for each set of blots. (b) Changes in phospho-eNOS after electrical stimulation for 0 sec, 15 sec, 5 min, or 5 min followed by 10 min of rest. Bands were quantified in arbitrary units by densitometry. Each bar represents the mean ± SE of phospho-eNOS/eNOS expressed relative to sham control result. The number of measurements is indicated in each bar. *, P < 0.05 vs. control by t test.