Background: The mechanism of erectile dysfunction (ED) caused by low androgen status is not fully understood.

Objectives: To investigate whether low androgen status inhibits erectile function of rats by inducing pyroptosis in the corpus cavernosum (CC).

Materials and methods: Thirty-six eight-weeks-old healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were equally divided into six groups: sham-operated group (4w sham, 8w sham), castration group (4w cast, 8w cast), and castration + testosterone (T) group (4w cast + T, 8w cast + T). The rats in castration + T groups were injected with testosterone propionate subcutaneously every other day. After 4 and 8 weeks, the ratio of maximum intracavernous pressure (ICPmax)/mean arterial pressure (MAP), the level of serum T, the concentration of nitric oxide (NO) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β), the expression of NOD-like receptor pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase activation and recruitment domain (ASC), Caspase-1 p20, gasdermin D-N (GSDMD-N), transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1), collagen-I, and collagen-III, the ratio of smooth muscle/collagen (SM/C), and the proportion of pyroptotic cells in the CC were analyzed.

Results: The ratio of ICPmax/MAP (3/5 V) and SM/C, the level of NO and serum T was significantly decreased in castration groups when compared to other groups (p < 0.01). NLRP3, ASC, Caspase-1, and GSDMD were mainly expressed in the cytoplasm of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and endothelial cells (ECs) in the CC. The expression of NLRP3, ASC, Caspase-1p20, GSDMD-N, IL-1β, TGF-β1, collagen-I, and collagen-III was significantly increased in castration groups when compared with other groups (p < 0.01). The proportion of pyroptotic cells in the CC was increased significantly in castration groups when compared with other groups (p < 0.05).

Discussion and conclusion: Low androgen status inhibits erectile function of rats by promoting CC fibrosis and reducing NO synthesis through pyroptosis of SMCs and ECs in the CC.