Guilingji capsules enhances erectile function by promoting testosterone-dependent angiogenesis in the corpus cavernosum

IF 3.3 3区医学 Q1 INTEGRATIVE & COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE

Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine Pub Date : 2024-06-18 DOI:10.1016/j.jtcme.2024.06.009

Xujun Yu , Jingyi Zhang , Suyun Xu , Jing Zhou , Chenglin Zhuang , Junjun Li , Baojun Zhuang

{"title":"Guilingji capsules enhances erectile function by promoting testosterone-dependent angiogenesis in the corpus cavernosum","authors":"Xujun Yu , Jingyi Zhang , Suyun Xu , Jing Zhou , Chenglin Zhuang , Junjun Li , Baojun Zhuang","doi":"10.1016/j.jtcme.2024.06.009","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and aim</h3><div>Guilingji capsules (GLJC) have the effect of treating erectile dysfunction (ED). This study aims to explore the potential mechanisms of GLJC in treating ED.</div></div><div><h3>Experimental procedure</h3><div>We conducted network pharmacology analysis of ED-related targets with GLJC components reported in the TCMSP database and GLJC components reported in the literature, respectively. Molecular docking was employed to validate the binding affinity of these molecular targets. Animal experiments were conducted to validate the aforementioned results. The mechanism of GLJC in treating ED was studied using <span>d</span>-galactose-induced aging rats, and orchiectomized rats were used to investigate further whether the mechanism of GLJC in treating ED is related to androgen.</div></div><div><h3>Results and conclusions</h3><div>Two network pharmacology analyses indicated that Androgen receptor (AR) and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) are the candidate targets, suggesting that the mechanism of ED treatment by GLJC may be related to androgens and angiogenesis. Molecular docking further validated the effective binding of GLJC components to these two targets. In animal experiments, GLJC significantly increased the frequency of erections and elevated serum free testosterone levels and penile tissue AR expression in aged rats. GLJC also promoted angiogenesis and inhibited penile tissue fibrosis in aged rats by regulating the expression of FGF2, RICTOR/P-AKT/P-FOXO1. However, such regulation was not observed in orchiectomized rats. Therefore, GLJC increased testosterone utilization in <span>d</span>-galactose-induced aging rats and regulated FGF2, RICTOR/P-AKT/P-FOXO1 signaling pathway in a T-dependent manner, promoting corpus cavernosum survival and angiogenesis. This mechanism led to the inhibition of penile fibrosis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17449,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine","volume":"15 2","pages":"Pages 147-160"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2225411024000749","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"INTEGRATIVE & COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background and aim

Guilingji capsules (GLJC) have the effect of treating erectile dysfunction (ED). This study aims to explore the potential mechanisms of GLJC in treating ED.

Experimental procedure

We conducted network pharmacology analysis of ED-related targets with GLJC components reported in the TCMSP database and GLJC components reported in the literature, respectively. Molecular docking was employed to validate the binding affinity of these molecular targets. Animal experiments were conducted to validate the aforementioned results. The mechanism of GLJC in treating ED was studied using d-galactose-induced aging rats, and orchiectomized rats were used to investigate further whether the mechanism of GLJC in treating ED is related to androgen.

Results and conclusions

Two network pharmacology analyses indicated that Androgen receptor (AR) and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) are the candidate targets, suggesting that the mechanism of ED treatment by GLJC may be related to androgens and angiogenesis. Molecular docking further validated the effective binding of GLJC components to these two targets. In animal experiments, GLJC significantly increased the frequency of erections and elevated serum free testosterone levels and penile tissue AR expression in aged rats. GLJC also promoted angiogenesis and inhibited penile tissue fibrosis in aged rats by regulating the expression of FGF2, RICTOR/P-AKT/P-FOXO1. However, such regulation was not observed in orchiectomized rats. Therefore, GLJC increased testosterone utilization in d-galactose-induced aging rats and regulated FGF2, RICTOR/P-AKT/P-FOXO1 signaling pathway in a T-dependent manner, promoting corpus cavernosum survival and angiogenesis. This mechanism led to the inhibition of penile fibrosis.

Abstract Image

查看原文本刊更多论文

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine Medicine-Complementary and Alternative Medicine

CiteScore

9.30

自引率

6.70%

发文量

审稿时长

66 days

期刊介绍： eJTCM is committed to publish research providing the biological and clinical grounds for using Traditional and Complementary Medical treatments as well as studies that demonstrate the pathophysiological and molecular/biochemical bases supporting the effectiveness of such treatments. Review articles are by invitation only. eJTCM is receiving an increasing amount of submission, and we need to adopt more stringent criteria to select the articles that can be considered for peer review. Note that eJTCM is striving to increase the quality and medical relevance of the publications.