Abstract
The number of the circulating angiogenic cells (CACs) and colony forming units (CFUs) derived from cultured circulating mononuclear cells (MNCs) represents a laboratory surrogate for endothelial cell repair ability. The serum of men with erectile dysfunction (ED) and vascular risk factors (VRFs) showed an increased level of endothelial cell damage/dysfunction markers and reduced the numbers of CACs and CFUs derived from the cells of healthy men. We analyzed whether treating men with ED and VRFs with the selective phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor tadalafil improved the endothelial cell repair ability and reduced the levels of the serum markers of endothelial cell damage/dysfunction. MNCs from healthy men were cultured with 20% serum from 36 ED patients to obtain CACs and CFUs. The ED patients were evaluated before and after 4 weeks of treatment with tadalafil (20 mg every other day) or with a placebo. The tadalafil treatment improved erectile function (P = 0.0028), but had no effect on the inhibitory effects of serum from ED patients on the CACs and CFUs derived from healthy men. The levels of endothelin-1 (P = 0.011) and tissue type plasminogen activator (P = 0.005) were reduced after treatment compared to baseline and those of the placebo group, whereas no changes were observed in the E-selectin levels. The tadalafil treatment in the ED patients with VRFs resulted in only a modest effect on the laboratory measures of the endothelial cell damage/dysfunction and repair ability. The proposed beneficial effect of phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibition on vascular homeostasis requires further analysis.