AGERELATED DYNAMICS OF ELASTICITY OF DEEP DORSAL VEIN OF HUMAN PENIS ACCORDING TO RESULTS OF DIRECT MEASUREMENTS

Background. An important role in the mechanism of the development and support of erection is assigned to the venous system of penis. At the same time, diacrisis and surgical correction of the disordered venous drainage is not successful in all cases. The rate of erection disorders is associated with various factors, but progressively grows with the age. Aim. To define the age-related dynamics of flexibility of the major venous vessel of penis – a deep dorsal vein – in a direct experiment. Materials and methods. Research was conducted on samples of a deep dorsal vein of penis obtained in autopsy of 30 males who have died suddenly from injuries or acute diseases at the age from 18 to 83 years. A deep dorsal vein of penis was isolated by an acute method without surrounding tissues. A fragment of the vein 2.5-3.5 cm in length was isolated distally the retaining ligament used as a reference point. In the course of experiments samples of veins were exposed to discretely increasing stretching force in the longitudinal direction with fixation of the corresponding absolute increments in the length on a specially designed installation using the original technique. Results. The mathematical analysis of the results of direct measurements of elastic properties of the studied vein permitted to reveal a considerable – about 20% – reduction in the elasticity of the vein in the studied age range 18 years – 83 years from α0 = 6,2∙10-8 m2/N to α0 = 5,0∙10-8 m2/N. With increase in the force of load, the average value of vein elasticity rapidly declined, and asymptotically approached the established value of the order of α = 1,4∙10-8 m2/N. Here, the age-related tendency to reduction in the elasticity with different degree of the functional load persists. Conclusion. The identified regularities of decline in the elasticity reflect changes in the wall of a deep dorsal vein with age that may play a role in the age-related increase in the rate of erectile dysfunction. The applied method of determination of elasticity can be used for determination of elasticity of vessels of other localizations and also of some other biological tissues in norm and pathology.