Abstract

It is known that smoking is a risk factor for atherosclerosis. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of cigarette smoke on the arterial component of the hemodynamics of erection in rats histologically.

Thirty male Sprauge-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 2 equal groups. Group-1 rats (n=15) were exposed to cigarette smoke for 2 hours each day for 120 consecutive days, and group 2 rats (n=15) were used as control. After 120 days rats were scarified, and penectomy was performed for histopathologic examination. All specimens were fixed in 10% formalin and embedded in paraffin. 4 μm thick sections were stained with H&E (hematoxylin eosine). Penile arterial diameters were measured by using micrometric ocular at high power magnification.

Average arterial diameter in group 1 and group 2 was 96,20±4,33 and 103,60±4,18 μm, respectively. Although average penile arterial diameter in group-1 was less than in group-2, it was insignificant statistically (p>0.05).

Long term exposure to cigarette smoke per se is not related to decrease in diameter of penile arteries of rats histologically. These results indicate that the risk factor cigarette smoke has functional effect on rats rather than morphological. Therefore, further advanced studies are needed to evaluate the effect of long term exposure to cigarette smoke on the wall of penile arteries in ultrastructural level.