{"doi":"10.3390/ijms19082153","title":"Investigation of Interactive Activity of Electro-Acupuncture on Pharmacokinetics of Sildenafil and Their Synergistic Effect on Penile Blood Flow in Rats","abstract":"<jats:p>Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a disorder found in males throughout the world, which negatively affects relationships with partners with advancing age. Hence, in this study, we tested a combined novel treatment of electro-acupuncture (EA) and sildenafil citrate against ED. In addition to EA therapy, the sildenafil citrate, a phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor, is a widely recognized drug that has achieved considerable success in the treatment of ED. However, the combined effect of both the EA and sildenafil has not yet been investigated. Hence, we aimed to examine the effect of EA on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of sildenafil in rat plasma. The pharmacokinetic parameters were determined using ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) after EA and sildenafil administration (10 mg/Kg). Following this, the pharmacodynamics was studied via blood flow pattern using developing Doppler images of the lower body and penis. The pharmacokinetic studies demonstrated that sildenafil significantly increases by administration of low-frequency EA. Further, the pharmacodynamic studies using Doppler imaging revealed an elevated blood flow in rat penis compared with lower body during combined treatment of sildenafil and low-frequency EA. These data indicate a synergistic therapeutic effect of EA and sildenafil for the treatment of ED.</jats:p>","journal":"International Journal of Molecular Sciences","year":2018,"id":26668,"datarank":0.6501298038666093,"base_score":2.1972245773362196,"endowment":2.1972245773362196,"self_citation_contribution":0.32958368660043297,"citation_network_contribution":0.3205461172661764,"self_endowment_contribution":0.32958368660043297,"citer_contribution":0.3205461172661764,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":8,"citer_count":7,"citers_with_citation_signal":6,"citers_with_endowment":6,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":153777,"name":"Kuei-Ying Yeh","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":153778,"name":"Yung-Yi Cheng","orcid":"0000-0001-7473-2835","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":153779,"name":"Navneet Kumar Dubey","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":153780,"name":"Allen W. Chiu","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":153781,"name":"Tung-Hu Tsai","orcid":"0000-0002-9007-2547","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":153776,"name":"Andy C. Huang","orcid":"0000-0002-4155-7935","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"base_score":2.1972245773362196,"endowment":2.1972245773362196,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"30042317","pmcid":"PMC6121473","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W2884766061","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan","grant_id":"MOST106-2113-M-010-002","title":null}],"total_grants":1,"fwci":0.6377,"citation_percentile":0.69508896,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2019,"count":1},{"year":2020,"count":1},{"year":2021,"count":2},{"year":2022,"count":1},{"year":2023,"count":2},{"year":2024,"count":1}],"oa_status":"gold","license":"cc-by","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/19/8/2153/pdf?version=1532418889","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/19/8/2153/pdf?version=1532418889","host_type":"GOLD"},{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/19/8/2153/pdf?version=1532418889","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/19/8/2153/pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms19082153","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30042317","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://doaj.org/article/563aa79c78f042b0a00a4cc05afda06d","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/6121473","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms19082153","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC6121473","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC6121473?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"}],"fields_of_study":["Sexual function and dysfunction studies","Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies","Urinary Bladder and Prostate Research","Medicine","Administration, Intravenous","Analysis of Variance","Animals","Area Under Curve","Catheterization","Electroacupuncture","Erectile Dysfunction","Male","Penile Erection","Penis","Phosphodiesterase 5 Inhibitors","Rats","Rats, Sprague-Dawley","Sildenafil Citrate","Vasodilator Agents"],"mesh_terms":["Sildenafil Citrate","Analysis of Variance","Animals","Catheterization","Erectile Dysfunction","Male","Penile Erection","Penis","Vasodilator Agents","Electroacupuncture","Rats, Sprague-Dawley","Area Under Curve","Rats","Phosphodiesterase 5 Inhibitors","Administration, Intravenous"],"keywords":["Sildenafil","Pharmacokinetics","Erectile dysfunction","cGMP-specific phosphodiesterase type 5","Pharmacodynamics","Medicine","Pharmacology","Blood flow","Penis","Tadalafil","Internal medicine","Surgery","Acupuncture","Electro-acupuncture","Penile Blood Flow"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Good health and well-being"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-06-08T15:10:41.985866Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}