When NO Leads to YES: Viagra Sildenafil
When NO Leads to YES: cheap cialis
Viagra Sildenafil: What Does Sildenafil Have in Common With Nitroglycerin and Car Exhaust and An Interactive Tutorial
Nitroglycerin and Viagra (sildenafil) probably don't occur to you in the same thought. It's hard to see what they have in common unless it's the explosive consequences of their use!
Besides being used to blow things up, nitroglycerin has been employed by doctors since the late 1800s to relieve the pain of angina in the heart. Ironically, it was prescribed to Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite and the Nobel Prize for his angina.
Nitroglycerin causes the coronary arteries of the heart to expand (dilate) and so more blood can flow to the heart muscle itself. This happens because the nitroglycerin triggers the release of a tiny molecule in the lining of the arteries called nitric oxide. Nitric Oxide (chemical symbol NO ) relaxes the smooth muscles in the arterial walls. Viagra also works it's magic to prolong the expansion of the blood vessels in the penis by working on a product of nitric oxide NO . Amazingly, the nitric oxide in the penis is the same nitric oxide in the blood vessels of the heart and they are both the very same poisonous nitric oxide that spews from car exhausts creating smog and acid rain!
See From Explosives to the Gas That Heals: Nitric Oxide in Medicineand an Illustrated Guide to Erectile Dysfunction from the National Institue of Health.
Touchy Topic Grounded in Science: Joke a Minute Topic
It's hard to say more than three sentences about this subject without a wise crack or joke. A search on Google reveals a seemingly endless stream of jokes and in your face advertisements about this subject. Even researchers have had a hard time controlling themselves. In 1983 a British scientist named Giles Brindley stunned an audience at a scientific meeting when he dropped his pants to illustrate how well his new treatment for erectile dysfunction worked.
Anatomy 101: What the Penis Looks Like Under the Hood:An Interactive Tutorial
Caution: the following is a graphic description!
This is a topic you must discuss with your doctor.
The penis is composed of a number of tubes, sort of cylindrical balloons that extend the length of the penis. Two of these tubes running the length of the penis are called the corpora cavernosa from the Latin corpora meaning bodies and cavernosa meaning hollow spaces. The corpora cavernosa are two "hollow cylinders" that have spongy tissue with lots of spaces in them. The two tubes are analogous to long deflated balloons. In the usual penile configuration the two corpora cavernosa are deflated. But when they fill with blood the corpora get inflated, the penis gets enlarged and the result is an erection.
Interactive Tutorial
You can watch and hear an interactive tutuorial on erectile dysfunction from the National Library of Medicine at Interactive Tutorial on Erectile Function.
How It Happens: The Yin and Yang
When a man is turned on, sexually stimulated, it causes the production of nitric oxide in the penis. Specifically the release of nitric oxide in the blood vessels of the penis cause an enzyme to make a chemical called cGMP. It is cGMP that relaxes the smooth muscles in the blood vessels of the corpora cavernosum. Therefore the blood vessels get wider and the blood flows into the tubes and the corpora cavernosa fill up and enlarge. When you have more cGMP you have more dilated blood vessels and the spongy material in the two cavernosa can stay inflated with blood and the penis stays erect. cGMP is found elsewhere as well and is involved with vision as well as the kidneys to name just some places.
As a matter of fact sildenafil was discovered serendipitously by researchers looking for a drug to dilate the blood vessels of the heart.
Nitric Oxide is nitrogen and oxygen. Incredibly simple and vitally important as a chemical messenger in the body. It's hard to believe yet the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded for the elucidation of the mechanism of nitric oxide in the body.
.
Yin and Yang of Erection
There is of course a yin and yang. At the same time that there are forces favoring an erection there are forces opposing an erection in the form of an enzyme called PDE5 that is destroying the cGMP. Since the blood vessels stay dilated because of the cGMP, if you can keep the cGMP around longer you keep an erection longer. Sildenafil prevents the destruction of cGMP and so keeps the penis erect. Viagra blocks the PDE5 from destroying the cGMP and the erection is maintained. So sildenafil is called a PDE5 inhibitor.
Why Viagra Maintains an Erection but Doesn't Cause It
Still Need to Get "Turned On"
Senator Bob Dole and countless others are no doubt very happy that Viagra works to prevent the destruction of the cGMP. But it's the sexual stimulus, the "turn on" that causes the production of nitric oxide in the penis. Without the initial "turn on" the sildenafil has nothing to work on. That's why they advertise that it won't cause an erection. So sildenafil and the other PDE5 inhibitors result in the blood vessels being expanded for longer. This would explain why they have warnings about the danger of using the PDE5 inhibitors with heart drugs like nitrates.
New Competitors to sildenafil
Other PDE5 Inhibitors On the Erectile Dysfunction Market
Sildenafil has now been joined by two other PDE5 inhibitors on the market. One is called Levitra vardenafil and Cialis tadalafil. Among the ways they hope to distinguish themselves is the fact that cheap cialis has a longer half life so that it ought to stay around longer.
PDE5 Inhibitors May Help Plants Stand Up Straight Also
Scientists in Israel and Australia working on nitric oxide in plants have reported on experiments with sildenafil. An Israeli scientist, Yaacov Leshem, at Bar-Ilan University, and Ron Wills, at the University of Newcastle have reported that the PDE5 inhibitors might keep plants from wilting so soon. Professor Leshem got the idea because "plants share the same common denominator as humans - nitric oxide." See the report at Dr. Chlorophyll Gardening Suggestions.
Viagra Sildenafil: What Does Sildenafil Have in Common With Nitroglycerin and Car Exhaust and An Interactive Tutorial
Nitroglycerin and Viagra (sildenafil) probably don't occur to you in the same thought. It's hard to see what they have in common unless it's the explosive consequences of their use!
Besides being used to blow things up, nitroglycerin has been employed by doctors since the late 1800s to relieve the pain of angina in the heart. Ironically, it was prescribed to Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite and the Nobel Prize for his angina.
Nitroglycerin causes the coronary arteries of the heart to expand (dilate) and so more blood can flow to the heart muscle itself. This happens because the nitroglycerin triggers the release of a tiny molecule in the lining of the arteries called nitric oxide. Nitric Oxide (chemical symbol NO ) relaxes the smooth muscles in the arterial walls. Viagra also works it's magic to prolong the expansion of the blood vessels in the penis by working on a product of nitric oxide NO . Amazingly, the nitric oxide in the penis is the same nitric oxide in the blood vessels of the heart and they are both the very same poisonous nitric oxide that spews from car exhausts creating smog and acid rain!
See From Explosives to the Gas That Heals: Nitric Oxide in Medicineand an Illustrated Guide to Erectile Dysfunction from the National Institue of Health.
Touchy Topic Grounded in Science: Joke a Minute Topic
It's hard to say more than three sentences about this subject without a wise crack or joke. A search on Google reveals a seemingly endless stream of jokes and in your face advertisements about this subject. Even researchers have had a hard time controlling themselves. In 1983 a British scientist named Giles Brindley stunned an audience at a scientific meeting when he dropped his pants to illustrate how well his new treatment for erectile dysfunction worked.
Anatomy 101: What the Penis Looks Like Under the Hood:An Interactive Tutorial
Caution: the following is a graphic description!
This is a topic you must discuss with your doctor.
The penis is composed of a number of tubes, sort of cylindrical balloons that extend the length of the penis. Two of these tubes running the length of the penis are called the corpora cavernosa from the Latin corpora meaning bodies and cavernosa meaning hollow spaces. The corpora cavernosa are two "hollow cylinders" that have spongy tissue with lots of spaces in them. The two tubes are analogous to long deflated balloons. In the usual penile configuration the two corpora cavernosa are deflated. But when they fill with blood the corpora get inflated, the penis gets enlarged and the result is an erection.
Interactive Tutorial
You can watch and hear an interactive tutuorial on erectile dysfunction from the National Library of Medicine at Interactive Tutorial on Erectile Function.
How It Happens: The Yin and Yang
When a man is turned on, sexually stimulated, it causes the production of nitric oxide in the penis. Specifically the release of nitric oxide in the blood vessels of the penis cause an enzyme to make a chemical called cGMP. It is cGMP that relaxes the smooth muscles in the blood vessels of the corpora cavernosum. Therefore the blood vessels get wider and the blood flows into the tubes and the corpora cavernosa fill up and enlarge. When you have more cGMP you have more dilated blood vessels and the spongy material in the two cavernosa can stay inflated with blood and the penis stays erect. cGMP is found elsewhere as well and is involved with vision as well as the kidneys to name just some places.
As a matter of fact sildenafil was discovered serendipitously by researchers looking for a drug to dilate the blood vessels of the heart.
Nitric Oxide is nitrogen and oxygen. Incredibly simple and vitally important as a chemical messenger in the body. It's hard to believe yet the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded for the elucidation of the mechanism of nitric oxide in the body.
.
Yin and Yang of Erection
There is of course a yin and yang. At the same time that there are forces favoring an erection there are forces opposing an erection in the form of an enzyme called PDE5 that is destroying the cGMP. Since the blood vessels stay dilated because of the cGMP, if you can keep the cGMP around longer you keep an erection longer. Sildenafil prevents the destruction of cGMP and so keeps the penis erect. Viagra blocks the PDE5 from destroying the cGMP and the erection is maintained. So sildenafil is called a PDE5 inhibitor.
Why Viagra Maintains an Erection but Doesn't Cause It
Still Need to Get "Turned On"
Senator Bob Dole and countless others are no doubt very happy that Viagra works to prevent the destruction of the cGMP. But it's the sexual stimulus, the "turn on" that causes the production of nitric oxide in the penis. Without the initial "turn on" the sildenafil has nothing to work on. That's why they advertise that it won't cause an erection. So sildenafil and the other PDE5 inhibitors result in the blood vessels being expanded for longer. This would explain why they have warnings about the danger of using the PDE5 inhibitors with heart drugs like nitrates.
New Competitors to sildenafil
Other PDE5 Inhibitors On the Erectile Dysfunction Market
Sildenafil has now been joined by two other PDE5 inhibitors on the market. One is called Levitra vardenafil and Cialis tadalafil. Among the ways they hope to distinguish themselves is the fact that cheap cialis has a longer half life so that it ought to stay around longer.
PDE5 Inhibitors May Help Plants Stand Up Straight Also
Scientists in Israel and Australia working on nitric oxide in plants have reported on experiments with sildenafil. An Israeli scientist, Yaacov Leshem, at Bar-Ilan University, and Ron Wills, at the University of Newcastle have reported that the PDE5 inhibitors might keep plants from wilting so soon. Professor Leshem got the idea because "plants share the same common denominator as humans - nitric oxide." See the report at Dr. Chlorophyll Gardening Suggestions.