Acute cerebral focal ischaemia alters the adrenergic and NANC responses in the bisected rat vas deferens

Disturbances of the autonomic nervous system are common in right hemisphere stroke patients, including a marked decline in male sexual functions. There is a lack of information on the influence of stroke on male secondary sex organs such as the vas deferens. This study investigates the effect of right brain focal ischaemia on the adrenergic and purinergic responses in isolated epididymal and prostatic portions of rat vas deferens. In both epididymal and prostatic portions the concentration-response curves to noradrenaline are flattened resulting in a reduction (up to 67 – 76%) of the maximum contractile response in the tissue from ischaemic rats compared to the controls. In the prostatic portion from ischaemic rats the concentration-response curve to α,β-methylene ATP was also depressed. The first purinergic and the second delayed adrenergic phase to single pulse was not modified by brain ischaemia. In contrast both phasic and tonic components of the electrically induced contractions by trains of stimuli at high frequencies (2 – 30 Hz) were significantly depressed in the epididymal and prostatic portions from ischaemic rats. These results demonstrate an autonomic imbalance at the level of male sexual secondary organs which may contribute to sexual impairment after stroke. British Journal of Pharmacology (2002) 135, 1723–1732; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0704628