The use of Bosentan, Theophylline and Vardenafil in the treatment of priapism

Priapism is described as the extended unpreferred erection status without any sexual stimulus. There are three types of priapism which are classified as ischemic, non ischemic and recurrent priapism depending on the blood flow of the penile artery. Ischemic priapism is a real urological emergency which needs urgent and appropriate approach. In order to prevent any erectile dysfunction, the urologist should know how to manage such an urgent case. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the early therapeutic alternatives such as Bosentan an endotelin receptor blocker, theophylline an adenosin receptor blocker and a non-selective phosphodiesterase enzyme inhibitor and vardenafil, a phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor for the therapy of ischemic priapism in the rat models.Twentyfour Sprague-Dawley rats were included into the study and they are divided into 4 equal groups. Erection was provided by vacuum constriction method and it was maintained for 4 hours for achieving the priapism in all groups. Consequently, cavernous tissue samples were collected and placed in the tissue bath. Tissue samples were prepared as 0.5-0.2 cm. strips and put into heat jacketed double walled organ bath containing 37°C krebs solution which is constantly bubbled with 95% O2 and %5 CO2 and are mounted at a resting tension of 1000 mg. After taking the 1 hour record of the three groups except the control group Bosentan, Theophylline and Vardenafil were admitted in increasing doses.Consequently the alterations of the contractions in the strips due to the drugs and their increasing doses are observed. In this study we detected that Bosentan increased the frequency and amplitude of the contractions of the cavernous tissue in the priapism status in a statistically significant manner, Theophylline decreased the frequency and the amplitude significantly and Vardenafil had statisticall no effect on the frequency and amplitude.Key Words: Bosentan, Ischemic priapism, Theophylline, Vardenafil