Phentolamine Mesylate Relaxes Penile Corpus Cavernosum Tissue by Adrenergic and Non-Adrenergic Mechanisms
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International Journal of Impotence Research (1998) 10, 215±223 ß 1998 Stockton Press All rights reserved 0955-9930/98 $12.00 http://www.stockton-press.co.uk/ijir Phentolamine mesylate relaxes penile corpus cavernosum tissue by adrenergic and non-adrenergic mechanisms A Traish, S Gupta, C Gallant, Y-H Huang and I Goldstein Department of Urology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118 Aim of the study: We investigated the biochemical and physiological mechanisms of action of phentolamine mesylate (VasomaxTM) in regulating erectile tissue smooth muscle contractility in human and rabbit corpus cavernosum. Methods: The binding activity of phentolamine was investigated in a cell-free system by displacement of speci®c and selective radiolabelled ligands to alpha 1 and 2 adrenergic receptors. The physiologic activity of phentolamine-mediated relaxation of adrenergic and non-adrenergic pre-contracted erectile tissue strips of human and rabbit corpus cavernosum were studied in organ bath chambers. Results: In corpus cavernosum membranes, phentolamine displaced binding of the selective alpha 1 receptor antagonists [125I]HEAT and [3H]prazosin and the alpha 2 receptor antagonists [3H]rauwolscine and [3H]RX 821002 with relatively high af®nity. Phentolamine caused concentration dependent relaxation in erectile tissue strips pre-contracted with adrenergic agonists phenylephrine, norepinephrine, oxymetazoline and UK 14 304, as well as with non- adrenergic contractile agents endothelin and KCl. Biochemical and physiologic studies reveal that the concentration of phentolamine required to displace half maximal binding or to produce half- maximal relaxation was similar to that found in human plasma 30 min after ingestion of 40 mg of VasomaxTM. Reversible inhibition of nitric oxide synthase by L-nitroarginine or mechanical disruption of endothelium diminished non-adrenergic phentolamine-mediated erectile tissue relaxation. Conclusions: Phentolamine mesylate induced relaxation of corpus cavernosum erectile tissue by direct antagonism of alpha 1 and 2 adrenergic receptors and by indirect functional antagonism via a non-adrenergic, endothelium-mediated mechanism suggesting nitric oxide synthase activation. Keywords: phentolamine mesylate; a-adrenergic receptors; erectile dysfunction; corpus caverno- sum smooth muscle; penile erection Introduction therapy as treatment for male erectile dysfunction, Zorgniotti,2 Gwinup3 and Wagner et al4 have utilized oral and buccal formulations of phentola- Phentolamine mesylate, an adrenergic antagonist, mine mesylate in pilot studies. has been marketed as an injectable substance A new formulation of oral phentolamine mesylate (Regitine, Ciba-Geigy) for over 40 y in the United (VasomaxTM) is currently being investigated for its States. It is approved for the treatment of pheochro- safety and ef®cacy in the treatment of male erectile mocytoma-related hypertension, for the diagnosis of dysfunction.5±8 Pharmacokinetic studies in normal pheochromocytoma and for norepinephrine-related volunteers have revealed that the mean phentola- dermal necrosis. Since 1984, phentolamine mesylate mine plasma concentration, 30 min after oral inges- has also been successfully utilized, in combination tion of 40 mg VasomaxTM tablets, was 16 ng/ml (42± with other vasoactive agents, for the intracavernosal 50 nM).9 Recent double-blind, placebo controlled, pharmacological treatment of male erectile dysfunc- multi-institutional clinical trials with VasomaxTM 1 tion. Due to inherent problems with self-injection have documented signi®cant improvement in erec- tile function compared to placebo in patients with minimal erectile dysfunction.5±8 Correspondence: Dr I Goldstein, Department of Urology, The molecular mechanisms of action underlying Doctors Of®ce Building, 720 Harrison Ave, Suite 606, Boston, MA 02118, USA. phentolamine mesylate-induced improvement of Received 29 December 1997; accepted in revised form erectile function are thought to be exclusively 16 March 1998 related to local inhibition of post-synaptic alpha- Phentolamine mesylate in penile erection A Traish et al 216 adrenergic receptors, however, local actions of chemicals were reagent grade and obtained from phentolamine in vascular smooth muscle may also commercial sources. include non-adrenergic pathways.10 The aim of this study was to detail, for the ®rst time, the biochem- ical and physiological mechanisms of action of phentolamine mesylate-mediated relaxation of cor- Biochemical binding studies pus cavernosum by adrenergic and non-adrenergic mechanisms. Membrane preparation and phentolamine mesylate binding to alpha 1 and 2 adrenergic receptors in corpus cavernosum smooth muscle were carried out Materials and methods as described previously.12±14 The data represents the cumulative observations from two or more indepen- dent experiments. Tissue procurement To examine the biochemical and physiological mechanisms of action of phentolamine mesylate- Physiological studies in organ bath chambers mediated relaxation, both human and rabbit corpus cavernosum erectile tissues were utilized, as indi- Human and rabbit corpus cavernosum strips were cated in the legend to the speci®c experiments. In mounted to force transducers (Grass Instruments general, initial experiments were performed with FT03, Quincy, MA) in 25 ml organ baths (37C) erectile tissue from the New Zealand White male containing Krebs solution and aerated with 5% CO2/ rabbit. The methodology of tissue harvest was 95% air to maintain a pH of 7.4. Optimal isometric approved by the Institutional Animal Care Commit- 11,12 tension for contraction was attained as described tee and has been previously reported. Data previously.11,13,14 The maximum contraction in- concerning phentolamine mesylate-mediated activ- duced by 80 mM KCl was determined for each strip ity in rabbit erectile tissue were then con®rmed before starting the experimental protocols. Dose using human erectile tissue. Human corpus caver- responses to various adrenergic agonists were nosum erectile tissues were procured during penile obtained by cumulative additions of drugs to the prosthesis implantation as approved by the Institu- chambers in half log increments starting at 1 nM and tional Review Board for Human Studies. In the continuing until the maximal contraction was operating room, erectile tissue biopsies were placed achieved with each treatment. For relaxation stu- in chilled physiological salt solution and immedi- dies, tissues were precontracted with a submaximal ately transported to the laboratory for experimenta- 11,12 concentration of phenylephrine (1 mM), KCl (20± tion as previously reported. 40 mM) or endothelin (30 nM). Once stable contrac- tion was reached, phentolamine dose responses were initiated by the addition of drug in half log Radioisotopes and chemicals increments (0.1 nM±0.1 mM). At the end of the experiment, 100 mM papaverine was added to deter- mine maximal relaxation. In experiments in which Zonagen Inc. (Houston, TX) provided phentolamine 3 the strips were pre-contracted with KCl, bretylium mesylate. [ H(N)]prazosin (34±45 Ci/mmol) and 2-{b- (10 mM), guanethidine (10 mM) and propranolol (4-hydroxy-3-[125I]iodophenyl)-ethylaminomethyl}- 125 (1 mM) were added to inhibit KCl-induced norepi- tetralone ([ I]HEAT) ( 2000 Ci/mmol) were ob- nephrine release.11,13 Relaxation data were normal- tained from New England Nuclear, Boston, MA. [3H] 3 ized as a percent of 80 mM KCl contraction for each RX821002 (54 Ci/mmol) and [ H] rauwolscine concentration. (74 Ci/mmol) were obtained from Amersham, (Ar- lington Heights, IL). Unlabeled prazosin and 5- methylurapidil (5-methyl-6[[3-[4-(2-methoxyphe- nyl)-1-piprazinyl]propyl]amino]-1,3-dimethyluracil) Statistical analysis were obtained from Research Biochemicals Inc., (Natick, MA). Phenylmethylsulfonyl ¯uoride, apro- tinin, L-nitroarginine and pepstatin A were obtained Relaxation of corpus cavernosum tissue to various from Sigma Chemical Company (St. Louis, MO). drugs is expressed as the percent change in tone. Endothelin-1 was obtained from Peninsula Lab. Inc., Maximum tone of the tissue is de®ned as that tone bretylium tosylate was obtained from American between the contraction to phenylephrine (1 mM) Critical Care, guanethidine ismelin monosulfate and the relaxation induced by papaverine (100 mM). was obtained from CIBA-Geigy Corning, RS 15385- Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare 197 was obtained from Roche Biosciences. All other the responses between control and phentolamine. Phentolamine mesylate in penile erection A Traish et al 217 Figure 1 Phentolamine mesylate displaces the alpha 1 adrenergic receptor antagonists [125I]HEAT and [3H]prazosin in rabbit corpus cavernosum. Membranes of corpus cavernosum smooth muscle were isolated and aliquots (200 ml, in triplicates) of the membranes were incubated at 25C for 1 h with 0.2 ml of buffer containing [3H] ligand (1 nM) in the absence (total binding) or presence of increasing concentrations (10711±1075 M) of unlabeled ligands. Binding was measured as described in the methods section. Speci®c binding was then determined by subtraction of nonspeci®c binding from total binding. The speci®c binding of each data point was plotted as percent of binding (compared to control) vs log molar concentrations of unlabeled ligands. (a) represents displacement of [125I]HEAT with phentolamine (j), 5 methylurapidil, (s) and prazosin (u). (b) represents displacement of [3H]prazosin with phentolamine (j), 5 methylurapidil, (s)