Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 August 2009
Erectile dysfunction (ED) is considered equivalent to endothelial dysfunction and thus an early manifestation of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Atherosclerosis that is frequently provoked by regular consumption of high-fat diet (HFD) has been recently recognized as a chronic inflammation condition associated to vessel lipid deposition and vascular smooth cells proliferation that together impair endothelium-dependent relaxation of corpus cavernosum (CC) smooth muscle. It is also well established that HFD regular intake by its own induces endothelial dysfunction. The main objective of this study was to evaluate effects of HFD continuous intake on atherosclerosis progression of CC vessels of the rat. Due to their intervention on atherosclerosisrelated vascular remodelling pathways, angiopoietins (Ang1, Ang2) expression in erectile tissue of this rat experimental model was characterized.