Introduction: Male sexual potency and vigor are a complex neuroendocrine process and an important component of well-being. Psychological stress is one of the leading causes of male impotence worldwide. Therefore, to better understand the effects of psychological stress on male sexual potency, vigor, and the physiology of erection, we used the rat restraint stress (RS) model, which can most aptly simulate psychological stress. Methods: Adult male SD rats were exposed to RS for 1.5 or 3 h/day for 30 days. Neuromodulators and hormones of sexual potency and penile erection were quantified using ELISA kit. The histoarchitecture of the penis was examined using Masson trichrome staining. Immunoblotting and immunofluorescence were used to assess the expression and immunolocalization patterns of penile erection markers. To assess sexual potency and vigor, a noncontact erection and a copulatory test were performed. Results: RS exposure decreased the circulatory levels of gonadotropins and testosterone while increasing the serum corticosterone level. RS exposure altered the histomorphology of the penis by decreasing the smooth muscle/collagen ratio and increasing oxidative stress in penile tissue. Furthermore, RS adversely affected NO availability for penile erection by decreasing the neurotransmitter acetylcholine and other erection facilitatory markers such as p-Akt, nNOS, eNOS, and cGMP, while increasing the inhibitory marker PDE5α in the penis. RS exposure significantly reduced the frequencies of mount, intromission, and ejaculation, whereas it prolonged sexual exhaustion by increasing latencies of postejaculatory mount, intromission, and ejaculation. Conclusion: The current findings suggest that psychological stressors, such as RS, cause erectile dysfunction in adult male rats by modulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis, oxidative balance, penile fibrosis, and the NO/cGMP/PDE5α pathway of penile erection.

Sub-Chronic Restraint Stress Suppresses Sexual Potency and Erection Efficiency by Targeting the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Testicular Axis and the Nitric Oxide/Cyclic Guanosine Monophosphate/Phosphodiesterase 5α Pathway in Adult Rats

Treadmill exercise training improves the high-fat diet-induced behavioral changes in the male rats

Chronic stress (CS) is known to induce testicular oxidative stress and apoptosis. Fruit of Momordica charantia (FMC) has antioxidant capacity to protect tissue damage, but its effect on sexual activity and testicular damage caused by CS has never been documented. This study aimed to investigate the impact of FMC extract against testicular damage and sexual dysfunction in chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) rats. Rats were divided into four groups and pretreated with vehicle or FMC (40 and 80 mg/kg) before CUS induction for 56 days. Sexual behaviors, serum hormones, and sperm quality were analyzed. Testes were collected to determine daily sperm production (DSP), malondialdehyde (MDA) level, and expressions of cleaved apoptotic proteins. Testicular DNA fragmentation, as revealed by TUNEL and morphometric analysis, was observed. FMC improved sexual activity, increased testosterone levels, and sperm count with improvements in DSP, testicular morphometrics, and MDA levels. Moreover, TUNEL-positive cells and expression of caspase 3 in the testis were decreased in FMC rats. FMC has antioxidant potential and could protect against male sexual dysfunction and testicular damage caused by stress-related apoptosis. It is a potential extract to be developed as a supplement in preventing CS-male subfertility. However, future studies about the optimal dose and clinical trials are required. 

Protective Effects of Momordica charantia Fruit Extract on Male Sexual Dysfunction and Testicular Damage in Rats Induced by Chronic Unpredictable Stressors

Coridius chinensis is a traditional Chinese medicinal insect, whose extract (CcE) is widely used for male reproductive disorders. Manganese (Mn 2+ ) as a heavy metal pollutant can cause toxicity to the reproductive system in mammals. Previous studies found that CcE can resist the apoptosis and oxidation by Mn 2+ exposed to repair the damage of seminiferous epithelium in rat. However, the therapeutic effect of CcE in the testicular stroma remains unclear. Our study found that the slow mating behaviors of capture, riding, insertion, and ejaculation with Mn 2+ exposure were improved by CcE treatment in male rat. The level of testosterone was significantly increased in CcE‐treated groups. Meanwhile, the damage about less area and cell number in testicular stroma due to Mn 2+ exposure was repaired after CcE treatment. Ultrastructure analysis of Leydig cells showed the larger mitochondria and more endoplasmic reticulum in Mn 2+ CcE groups became than that in Mn 2+ group. Further experiments showed that mRNA and protein level of steroidogenic‐related regulators (STAR, CYP11 α 1, and HSD3 β 1) were significantly decreased in Mn 2+ group and strongly upregulated occurred at medium concentration of CcE given. Taken together, our results provide a new insight of CcE in promoting testosterone production of Leydig cells to protect male reproductive behavior from Mn 2+ toxicity. 

Coridius chinensis Extract Promotes Leydig Cell Endocrine Function Rescuing Testosterone Deficiency and Sexual Behavior Insufficiency in Manganese‐Exposed Rat

As ciências biológicas como um todo, e as neurociências em particular, são usadas para chancelar papéis sociais de gênero à medida que partem do pressuposto da existência de cérebros masculino e feminino, que justificariam comportamentos naturais de macho e fêmea. Estudos que acabam por confirmar esse pressuposto não são isentos de vieses culturais dos pesquisadores, mesmo quando são realizados em animais de laboratório. Aqui discutimos como esses vieses influenciam os resultados e interpretações das pesquisas biomédicas, as quais funcionam como tecnologia de gênero. Especificamente, como o machismo moldou a neurociência comportamental. A abordagem científica sob uma perspectiva feminista é essencial para que seja feita uma ciência para mulheres e não apenas sobre mulheres.

O viés de gênero na neurociência comportamental

Exposure to chronic stress stimulates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and then simultaneously inhibits hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis (HPG) axis activity. The inhibition formed by the HPA axis is the main mechanism of action of stress on reproductive function. HPG axis activity is known to be changed by various factors, including exercise. Exercise has been found to have a number of positive effects on sexual behavior, reproductive hormones, and sperm parameters in studies with animal models for many years. The main aim of this study is to investigate the effects of chronic treadmill exercise on chronically stressed-male rats' sexual behavior, reproductive hormones, and sperm parameters. A total of 40 sexually adult male rats were randomly and equally divided into four groups as control, stress, exercise, and stress+exercise. Animals in the exercise group were subjected to the chronic treadmill exercise (moderate intensity) for 33 days with a periodic increase in speed and duration. Animals in the stress group were exposed to restraint stress for 1 h, 2 h, and 3 h during the first, second and third 15 days respectively. Sexual behavior parameters, hormone measurements, and sperm parameters were evaluated. The main effects of chronic exercise on sexual behavior were centered on a significant increase in the ejaculation frequency (EF) in the stress+exercise group. Also, sperm concentration and motility in the stress group significantly decreased, and then sperm motility was improved by exercise in the stress+exercise group. In sum, our results show that chronic treadmill exercise may improve the adverse effects of chronic stress on sexual behavior and sperm parameters in male rats in terms of some parameters.

Effects of treadmill exercise on sexual behavior and reproductive parameters in chronically stressed-male rats.

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of {limit} columns in the table. Remove at least 1 column to add or create another one.

E Kacar

Author Tools

Chat about Author

Papers

Effects of treadmill exercise on sexual behavior and reproductive parameters in chronically stressed-male rats.