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. 1991 Nov;104(3):755–759. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1991.tb12500.x

The effect of inhibitors of nitric oxide biosynthesis and cyclic GMP formation on nerve-evoked relaxation of human cavernosal smooth muscle.

R S Pickard 1, P H Powell 1, M A Zar 1
PMCID: PMC1908248  PMID: 1665750

Abstract

1. The inhibitory transmission in isolated preparations of cavernosal smooth muscle from human penis has been studied. 2. Electrical field stimulation (EFS; 2-64 pulses/train, 0.8 ms pulse duration, 10 Hz) evoked relaxation of preparations treated with guanethidine (50 microM). The EFS-evoked relaxations were atropine-resistant and tetrodotoxin-sensitive indicating their origin to be non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic (NANC) nerve stimulation. 3. EFS-evoked relaxation was attenuated dose-dependently by the nitric oxide (NO)-synthase inhibitor, L-NG-nitro arginine (L-NOARG; 0.3-100 microM) but not by D-NG-nitro arginine. The inhibitory effect of L-NOARG on transmission was antagonized by L-arginine (100 microM), a NO precursor, but not by D-arginine. 4. Incubation with methylene blue (10-50 microM), a known inhibitor of guanylate cyclase activation by NO, caused a concentration-related inhibition of EFS-evoked relaxation. 5. It is concluded that NANC nerve-evoked relaxation of human cavernosal smooth muscle is mediated by NO or a NO-like substance.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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