IMPOTENCE OF ARTERIAL ORIGIN - EXPERIMENT AL-MODELS AND ASSESSMENT OFSEXUAL-BEHAVIOR IN RATS

Work on the vascular anatomy and on the physiology of the penis have a llowed developing new procedures to treat impotence. This study has de alt with four experimental models of impotence of arterial origin in r ats. The assessment was based on sexual behavior tests and on the meas urement of the erection capacity index (ECI) measured from the second to the fifth week after interruption of the arterial flow. Four groups of eight rats each were formed. Group A underwent unilateral ligation of the common iliac artery, group B bilateral ligation of the common iliac artery, group C bilateral ligation of the internal iliac arterie s and group D ipsilateral ligation of the common iliac and internal il iac arteries. In group A, the percentage of true coituses was 72.7 and 83.3 % on the second and third week, respectively. In group B the per centage of false coituses was higher with 82.3 %, 90 % and 81.2 % on t he second, third and four-th week, respectively. In group C, the perce ntage of true coituses ranged from 7.7 % to 35.7 % during the whole pe riod of observation. The erection capacity index was of 0.24 in group B and 0,23 in group C, with a higher percentage of false coituses in g roups C and B. These models can be used to study the physiopathology o f impotence of arterial origin.