The Therapeutic Role of VEGF-Expressing Muscle-Derived Stem Cells in Acute Penile Cavernosal Injury

<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Introduction</jats:title> <jats:p>Traumatic penile injury is one of the urological emergencies. Surgery and conservative management are major treatment methods but are always accompanied by many complications.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Aim</jats:title> <jats:p>To investigate the feasibility of repairing cavernous tissues in acute rabbit penile cavernosal injury model with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-expressing muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs).</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Methods</jats:title> <jats:p>MDSCs were isolated and transfected with hVEGF165 lentiviral gene vector in vitro. The expression of VEGF was confirmed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Western blot, and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses. After animal models were constructed, animals were randomly divided into four groups, which were administrated with MDSCs/VEGF, MDSCs/vector, MDSCs, and normal saline, respectively. A month later, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and intracavernosal pressures (ICP) were performed on the animals. Then penile tissues were harvested and assayed with Western blot and immunohistochemistry.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Main Outcome Measures</jats:title> <jats:p>Real-time PCR, Western blot, ELISA, immunohistochemistry, MRI, and ICP were performed in our experiments.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Results</jats:title> <jats:p>The expression of VEGF significantly increased in the VEGF-expressing MDSCs group compared with those in the MDSCs/vector and MDSCs groups. VEGF protein expression in the injury sites of cavernous tissues were significantly higher in the MDSCs/VEGF group compared with those in other three groups. Immunohistochemical staining showed that α-smooth muscle actin-positive cells, von Willebrand factor-positive cells and capillary density markedly increased in the MDSCs/VEGF group. Animals receiving MDSCs/VEGF showed a significant improvement in cavernosal contractile function and structural repair.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title> <jats:p>The transplantation of VEGF-expressing MDSCs could repair the actuely injured cavernous tissue. We believed that it could be a novel therapeutic strategy for acute rabbit penile cavernosal injury.</jats:p> </jats:sec>