Many studies have shown that the imbalance in reactive oxygen species formation and antioxidant defenses affects ED pathogenesis. This study aims to compare the antioxidant and oxidant status in individuals with ED, along with automated assay for the thiol/disulfide homeostasis evaluation.
The study included 123 patients with the condition and 90 without erectile dysfunction. A questionnaire was used to collect information from the subjects. The researchers used the Erel and Neselioglu test to study the variables of oxidative/antioxidative balance.
The researchers measure the oxidant disulfide (SS), native thiol (SH), and total thiol (toSH) level in the patients. A comparison was conducted between groups with and without ED. Then, it was compared within the group with ED, based on severity. There was a significant difference in the variables (total thiol, native thiol, and oxidant disulfide) between the groups with and without the condition. The oxidant disulfide values were higher in subjects with ED. However, there is no significant difference between the oxidant disulfide level and the native thiol/total thiol ratio
The study showed that the thiol and oxidant disulfide homeostasis alters in ED individuals. This imbalance is one of the factors for the pathophysiology. As ED severity increases, the toSH and SH values decreased, and SS increased.
Ref: https://www.jsm.jsexmed.org/article/S1743-6095(20)30760-8/fulltext
