Objective: To examine purinergic relaxation responses in chronic renal failure (CRF) in an experimental rabbit model, and thus evaluate the possible involvement of the purinergic system in erectile dysfunction with CRF.
Materials and methods: The relaxant effects of ATP were measured in strips of corpus cavernosum smooth muscle taken from control and CRF rabbits. CRF was induced in New Zealand white rabbits as previously described. Penises were excised from CRF rabbits 4 weeks after inducing uraemia. In an organ bath the strips from controls and CRF rabbit corpus cavernosum were pre-contracted with phenylephrine and increasing doses of adenosine and ATP added.
Results: In the pre-contracted rabbit cavernosal tissue the relaxations induced by adenosine and ATP were unchanged in CRF.
Conclusion: The lack of any relaxant effect of adenosine or ATP on the relaxation of cavernosal smooth muscle in rabbits with CRF might be because the relaxant effects of these agents are endothelium-independent and the endothelial purinergic receptor density was unchanged in CRF.