An angiotensin II receptor blocker increases sexual behavior in type 2 diabetic mice

The present study was conducted to examine the effects of olmersartan, angiotensin (ANG) II type 1 (AT1) receptor antagonist, on the sexual function in type 2 diabetes model mice. Twenty-week-old KK/Ta mice were used as a model of type 2 diabetes. Age-matched ICR and BALB/C mice were used as non-diabetic controls. The animals were fed powder chow either with or without olmesartan (7.5 μg/g in chow) for 4 weeks. The levels of sexual behavior, activity, and anxiety were then examined between the groups treated with and without olmesartan. The KK/Ta mice treated with olmesartan exhibited a significant increase in the number of mounts and intromission and a decrease in the latency to the first mount in comparison to the KK/Ta mice treated without olmesartan. These effects of olmesartan were not observed in the non-diabetic BALB/C and ICR mice. In addition, the olmesartan treatment did not affect the activity and anxiety regardless of the mouse strain. These findings suggest that the interaction between ANG II and AT1 receptor may be involved in the pathogenesis of the sexual dysfunction associated with type 2 diabetes and a blockade of ANG II may therefore be a potentially useful treatment for male sexual dysfunction in type 2 diabetes.