Combined Strategy of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Injection With Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Gene Therapy for the Treatment of Diabetes‐Associated Erectile Dysfunction

This study was designed to investigate the effect of vascular endothelial growth factor 164 adenovirus (Ad‐VEGF 164 )–transfected mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) on improving erectile function in diabetic rats. Forty‐five male Sprague‐Dawley rats were injected with streptozotocin to develop type 1 diabetes, whereas 10 served as normal controls. Diabetic rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: rats that underwent intracavernous injection with phosphate‐buffered saline (DM+PBS), unmodified MSCs (DM+MSC), and Ad‐VEGF 164 –transfected MSCs (DM+VMSC). Normal controls received intracavernous injection of PBS. Four weeks after injection, erectile function was measured by cavernous nerve electrostimulation. Penile tissue was harvested for histology and enzyme‐linked immunoassay. Prior to injection, high expression of VEGF was confirmed in Ad‐VEGF 164 –transfected MSCs by enzyme‐linked immunoassay. Four weeks after injection, the erectile function, as well as the content of smooth muscle and endothelium in corpus cavernosum increased significantly in the MSC‐injected groups compared with the DM+PBS group. There was a significant improvement of erectile function, the content of smooth muscle and endothelium, and the VEGF concentration in the corpus cavernosum in the DM+VMSC group compared with the DM+MSC group. Our study validates the effect of intracavernous injection of MSCs for diabetes‐associated erectile dysfunction in an animal model. The combined strategy of MSC injection with VEGF gene therapy–enhanced therapy of MSCs for the treatment of diabetes‐associated erectile dysfunction.