Studies estimate that 75 percent of all men with diabetes experience some form of Erectile Dysfunction.  There may be help for these men.

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine have found some molecular-level changes in the body related to erectile dysfunction in diabetics.

This new research could help doctors diagnose ED and provide new drugs for the treatment of ED in men with diabetes, who sometimes can’t be treated with standard drugs for Erectile Dysfunction.

Essentially, 57 proteins are examined in the tissue of the penis of diabetic rats in 1 week and two months after the onset of diabetes.  They are measuring these 57 different proteins that increase or decrease in the penile tissue during diabetes.    Collagen proteins that provide strength and stiffness to erections, and proteins that transport sex hormones are lower in diabetics than in those without diabetes.  At the same time, proteins responsible for fat metabolism and the hardening of blood vessels increased.

While this initial research is done in rats, there are similar characteristics in humans and this amazing find can help advance the diagnosis and treatment in the sexual health of diabetic men.

This study is published in the March Molecular and Cellular Proteomics.