Spontaneous Recovery of Cavernous Nerve Crush Injury

Twenty 4-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into the following groups: sham-operated group (n=10) and bilateral CNCI groups (n=10) for two different durations (12 and 24 we eks). At both time points, CN electrical stimulation was used to assess erectile function by measuring the intracavernous pressure. The expression of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1α and sonic hedgehog (SHH) was examined in penile tissue. Im munohistochemical staining was performed for nerve growth factor (NGF), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), neuronal ni-tric oxide synthase (nNOS), and smooth muscle α-actin.