Atherosclerosis-induced chronic arterial insufficiency causes clitoral cavernosal fibrosis in the rabbit

In our previous studies we found that aging-associated fibrosis of clitoral cavernosal tissue correlated with the prevalence of cardiovascular disease in elderly women. The aim of this study was to determine specifically, art erial insufficiency-relate structural changes of clitoral cavernosal tissue in a rabbit model. New Zealand white female rabbits were divided into clit oral cavernosal ischemia (CCI, n = 5) and control (n = 5) groups, The CCI g roup underwent balloon endothelial injury of the iliac arteries and receive d 0.5% cholesterol diet. The control group received a regular diet. After 1 6 weeks, arteriography was performed then the animals were sacrificed, The iliac arteries and the entire clitoris were removed. Cross-sections of the iliac arteries and clitoris were processed for histologic evaluation The pe rcentage of smooth muscle and connective tissue in trichrome stained sectio ns of clitoral cavernosal tissue was determined by computer-assisted histom orphometry. Arteriography revealed diffused occlusive disease in the common iliac, internal iliac and pudendal arteries in the CCI group. Histology sh owed that arterial occlusive disease spreads from the site of balloon injur y to the smaller branches involving the clitoral cavernosal arteries. Diffu se fibrosis was observed in the clitoral cross-sections of the CCI group. T he percentage of clitoral cavernosal smooth muscle (mean +/- standard error ) in the CCI group (53% +/- 0.9%) was significantly decreased compared with the control group (62% +/- 0.8%) (P = 0.0001), Chronic clitoral cavernosal ischemia causes significant fibrosis and loss of smooth muscle in the clit oral cavernosal tissue. These findings suggest that chronic clitoral cavern osal arterial insufficiency may play a role in the pathophysiology of femal e sexual arousal disorders.