The Effect of microRNA-328 antagomir on erectile dysfunction in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

The study aimed at exploring the effect of microRNA-328 (miR-328) antagomir on erectile dysfunction (ED) in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. A total of 120 male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were selected for this study. Fifteen rats were assigned as the diabetic control group and 75 out of the remaining rats (105 diabetic rat models) were divided into five groups with 15 rats in each group: diabetic ED, diabetic ED + negative control (NC), diabetic ED + miR-328 antagomir, diabetic ED + sildenafil and diabetic ED + miR-328 antagomir + sildenafil groups. The cGMP/AGEs production levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blotting were conducted for testing the expression level of miR-328, transcription and protein levels of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and dickkopf-3 (DKK3). The diabetic ED + miR-328 antagomir group had better erectile function, lower cGMP production level, transcription and protein levels of eNOS and DKK3 but higher AGEs production level than the diabetic control group. The diabetic control group showed higher cGMP production level transcription and protein levels of eNOS and DKK3 and lower production levels of AGEs and miR-328 than the diabetic ED and diabetic ED + NC groups. Our results indicated that miR-328 antagomir could improve ED in STZinduced diabetic rats by regulating cGMP and AGEs. (C) 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.