90 Scientific Proceedings (126) 



44 (2004) 



Pharmacodynamic reactions of erectile tissue and the dorsalis 



penis artery. 



By DAVID I. MACHT. 



[From the Pharmacological Laboratory and Brady Urological 

 Clinic, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.] 



The physiology and even the anatomy of erectile tissue has 

 never been satisfactorily investigated and cur knowledge on the 

 subject is still very meager. In connection with a pharmaco- 

 logical investigation of aphrodisiac drugs the author thought it 

 desirable to inquire into the pharmacological behavior of erec- 

 tile tissue as well as of the dorsalis penis artery-. After long 

 experimentation a method of studying these tissues has been 

 developed and the effects of various drugs on the same were 

 investigated. In the present research isolated surviving pieces 

 of copora cavernosa and spongiosa of the dog were kept alive 

 in warm oxygenated Locke solution under special conditions and 

 the response of the preparations to various drugs was studied. 

 In the case of the dorsalis penis artery, rings of the dog's ar- 

 tery were employed. 



The modern anatomist in tracing the finer structure of the 

 nervous system resorts to pharmacodynamic reactions for the 

 determination of the origin of different parts of the sympathetic 

 nervous system. Thus, for instance, a pharmacological response 

 to adrenalin is an indication that the particular muscle prepara- 

 tion studied is innervated by the true or thoracico-lumbar sym- 

 pathetic system; while a response to such drugs as pilocarpin 

 and atropin indicates an innervation coming from the parasym- 

 pathetic or bulbo-sacral sympathetic system. 



In the present investigation it was found that both erectile 

 tissue preparations and preparations of the dorsalis penis artery 

 responded with contraction or relaxation as the case might be 

 on treatment with epinephrin and ergotoxin. On the other hand 

 numerous experiments made with pilocarpin, physostigmin, 

 atropin and other so-called "parasympathetic" poisons failed to 

 elecit any response in either the erectile tissue or dorsalis penis 

 artery preparations. In view of these results, repeatedly and 

 consistently obtained, it appears that both corpora cavernosa 



