[Biological characteristics of rabbit corporal smooth muscle cells cultured in vitro].

OBJECTIVES: To study the biological characteristics of rabbit corporal smooth muscle cells (SMC) cultured in vitro. METHODS: In vitro tissue culture technique, morphological observation, cell counting, mitosis index and adhesion rate evaluation were applied to study the biological features of the SMC. RESULTS: 1. SMC were spindle-shaped and parallel along their longitudinal axis, showing obvious orientation. 2. The attachment and the proliferation of SMC in vitro were rapid. SMC cultured in vitro can grow and maintain their steady characteristics provided appropriate passage rate and culture condition. CONCLUSIONS: The SMC cultured in vitro are proved to be used to evaluate and investigate the effect of some medicine on penile erection.

[Intercellular gap junctions in corporal smooth muscle].

The contractility of corporal smooth muscle plays a critical role in human penile erectile process. Understanding the initiation, maintenance and modulation of corporal smooth muscle tone is a prequisite to improve understanding, diagnosis and treatment of erectile dysfunction. Despite this fact, indentification of both the precise mechanistic basis by which various agents exert their effects on individual corporal smooth muscle cells, moreover, the process by which these signals are spread among the diverse array of parenchymal cells in the paired corporal, remain somewhat of a physiological enigma. Therefore, this article aims at: 1. to review current knowledge of the regulation of corporal smooth muscle tone at the cellular and molecular level; 2. to review various methods used in the study of gap junction channel.

Influence of several uropathogenic microorganisms on human sperm motility parameters in vitro.

AIM: The effects of certain uropathogenic microorganisms (Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis) on human sperm motility characteristics were studied in vitro. METHODS: In 10 healthy fertile men, ejaculates were aseptically obtained by masturbation and with a swim-up technique, a sperm suspension of high motility and purity was obtained. Several uropathogenic bacteria were obtained from outpatients with genitourinary tract infections. The sperm suspension was incubated with the pathogens at a bacteria: sperm ratio of 50:1 at 37deg. The sperm mobility parameters were estimated with a computer-assisted sperm analyzer (CASA) provided with a multiple-exposure photography system (Madi Corp., Zhejiang, China). Measurements were carried out at 0, 2 and 4 hours of incubation. RESULTS: Staphylococcus aureus significantly decreased the sperm motility and viability, but Staphylococcus epidermidis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae did not. CONCLUSION: Staphylococcus aureus has an inhibitory effect on human sperm motility in vitro.