Isolation of Primary Endothelial and Stromal Cell Cultures of the Corpus Cavernosum Penis for Basic Research and Tissue Engineering

Endothelial cell cultures derived from human corpora cavernosa are reproducible and reliable to serve for cell culture-based investigations of the endothelial dysfunction. The discrepancy in the purity of smooth muscle cell cultures might reflect laboratory and tissue source factors, lacking an exclusion of fibroblasts in other studies or changes in stromal phenotype under culture conditions. Further research is necessary to clarify a possible plasticity between smooth muscle cells and (myo)fibroblasts and assess functional properties.