{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]],"date-time":"2026-08-17T10:45:15Z","timestamp":1786963515739,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,23]],"date-time":"2018-11-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1542931200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"This research was supported by the Bio &amp; Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science &amp; ICT","award":["NRF-2018M3A9E8020861"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NRF-2018M3A9E8020861"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Effective therapies for erectile dysfunction (ED) associated with diabetes mellitus (DM) are needed. In this study, the effects of stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1)-expressing engineered mesenchymal stem cells (SDF-1 eMSCs) and the relevant mechanisms in the corpus cavernosum of a streptozotocin (STZ)-induced DM ED rat model were evaluated. In a randomized controlled trial, Sprague\u2013Dawley (SD) rats (n = 48) were divided into four groups (n = 12\/group): Normal (control), DM ED (diabetes induced by STZ), DM ED + BM-MSC (treated with bone marrow [BM]-derived MSCs), and DM ED + SDF-1 eMSC (treated with SDF-1-expressing BM-MSCs). After four weeks, intracavernosal pressure (ICP), an indicator of erectile function, was 0.75 \u00b1 0.07 in the normal group, 0.27 \u00b1 0.08 in the DM ED group, 0.42 \u00b1 0.11 in the DM ED + BM-MSC group, and 0.58 \u00b1 0.11 in the DM ED + SDF-1 eMSC group. BM-MSCs, especially SDF-1 eMSCs, improved ED (p &lt; 0.05). SDF-1 eMSC treatment improved the smooth muscle content in the corpus cavernosum (p &lt; 0.05). As SDF-1 expression increased, ED recovery improved. In the SDF-1 eMSC group, levels of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and phosphorylated endothelial NOS (p-eNOS) were higher than those in other groups (p &lt; 0.05). In addition, high stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) expression was associated with increased vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in DM ED rats (p &lt; 0.05). Higher levels of phosphorylated protein kinase B (p-AKT)\/protein kinase B (AKT) (p &lt; 0.05) and B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) and lower levels of the apoptosis factors Bcl2-associated x (Bax) and caspase-3 were observed in the MSC-treated group than in the DM ED group (p &lt; 0.05). SDF-1 eMSCs showed beneficial effects on recovery from erectile function.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms19123730","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,11,23]],"date-time":"2018-11-23T12:20:28Z","timestamp":1542975628000},"page":"3730","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":33,"title":["Engineered Mesenchymal Stem Cells Expressing Stromal Cell-derived Factor-1 Improve Erectile Dysfunction in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Seung Hwan","family":"Jeon","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"},{"name":"Catholic Integrative Medicine Research Institute, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"},{"name":"Department of Biomedicine &amp; Health Sciences, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7841-8026","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guan Qun","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"},{"name":"Catholic Integrative Medicine Research Institute, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Woong Jin","family":"Bae","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"},{"name":"Catholic Integrative Medicine Research Institute, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sae Woong","family":"Choi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hyun Cheol","family":"Jeong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"},{"name":"Catholic Integrative Medicine Research Institute, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hyuk Jin","family":"Cho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"U-Syn","family":"Ha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sung-Hoo","family":"Hong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ji Youl","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eun Bi","family":"Kwon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"},{"name":"Catholic Integrative Medicine Research Institute, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hyo-Jin","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Stem cell therapy, SL BIGEN, Seongnam 13488, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Soon Min","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Stem cell therapy, SL BIGEN, Seongnam 13488, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hey-Yon","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Stem cell therapy, SL BIGEN, Seongnam 13488, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sae Woong","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"},{"name":"Catholic Integrative Medicine Research Institute, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"},{"name":"Department of Biomedicine &amp; 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