Regeneration of pelvic autonomic axons after injury

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/402627

Funding Status
Closed

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Funded Activity Summary

This project is focused on the problem of erectile dysfunction, especially the common situation where this is caused by injury to the penile nerves. These nerves are part of the parasympathetic nervous system . Nerve injury-induced erectile dysfunction is a common problem for prostatectomy patients, with recovery of normal erections occurring slowly, partially or not at all. There is currently no therapy to improve regeneration of these nerves, and this is partly because very little is known about effects of injury on any parasympathetic neurons, and especially for those that are essential for erection. The first aim of this study is to define the key structural and functional changes occurring in penile parasympathetic neurons during regeneration after injury. This fundamental neurobiological knowledge is essential to develop and optimise an future growth treatments. The second aim of the study is to define the effects of a protein, neurturin, on axonal regeneration of penile pro-erectile neurons. Our evidence so far strongly suggests that it is necessary for the early stages of injury responses. Our studies will be performed in mice, where we also have colonies of knockout animals to study the effect of removing neurturin from the regeneration process. Our experiments will include neuroanatomical studies of injured and growing nerves, pharmacology studies on penile smooth muscle (corpus cavernosum) innervation and responsiveness, and tissue culture studies. We will investigate not only the changes that occur following injury to penile nerves, but also the way in which undamaged nerves may assist in returning erectile function.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2006

End Date: 01-01-2008

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $457,267.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Autonomic Nervous System

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

autonomic ganglia | autonomic reflex | erectile dysfunction | nerve injury and regeneration | neurotrophic factors | pelvic surgery | prostate cancer | urogenital tract

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