Regeneration of pelvic autonomic axons after injury

这个项目的重点是勃起功能障碍的问题，特别是常见的情况下，这是由阴茎神经损伤引起的。这些神经是副交感神经系统的一部分。神经损伤性勃起功能障碍是前列腺切除术患者的常见问题，正常勃起恢复缓慢，部分或根本无法恢复。目前还没有改善这些神经再生的治疗方法，部分原因是我们对损伤对任何副交感神经的影响知之甚少，尤其是对那些对勃起至关重要的神经的影响。本研究的第一个目的是确定阴茎副交感神经在损伤后再生过程中发生的关键结构和功能变化。这些基本的神经生物学知识对于开发和优化未来的生长治疗至关重要。该研究的第二个目的是确定一种蛋白质，神经蛋白，对阴茎促勃起神经元轴突再生的影响。到目前为止，我们的证据强烈表明，这对损伤反应的早期阶段是必要的。我们的研究将在小鼠中进行，我们也有敲除动物的菌落来研究从再生过程中去除神经蛋白的效果。我们的实验将包括损伤和生长神经的神经解剖学研究，阴茎平滑肌（海绵体）神经支配和反应的药理学研究，以及组织培养研究。我们不仅会研究阴茎神经损伤后发生的变化，还会研究未受损的神经如何帮助恢复勃起功能。

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.