Salidroside, a major active ingredient isolated from Rhodiola rosea, has a long application in Chinese medical history. It has widely demonstrated effects on
fatigue, psychological stress, and depression and exhibits potential antihypoxia activity. Emerging evidence shows that
hypoxia is an important independent risk factor for
erectile dysfunction (ED). The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of
salidroside on
hypoxia-induced phenotypic transformation of corpus cavernosum smooth muscle cells (CCSMCs). Our results showed that
salidroside decreased the
hypoxia-induced expression of
collagen and content of
vimentin, a corpus cavernosum smooth muscle synthetic
protein, in vitro. Simultaneously,
salidroside increased expression of the CCSMC
contractile proteins, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and
desmin. In vivo, similarly, the expressions of
collagen and
hypoxia-inducible factor-1α were increased in bilateral cavernous
neurectomy (BCN) rats while they were decreased in the
salidroside group. Among the phenotypic
proteins, α-SMA and
desmin increased and
vimentin decreased after treating BCN rats with
salidroside compared with the BCN alone group. Overall, our results demonstrate that
salidroside has the ability to oppose
hypoxia and can inhibit the CCSMC phenotypic transformation induced by
hypoxia.
Salidroside may provide a new treatment method for ED.