The best way to get to know a medication and especially to realize how it works is to learn about the condition it treats. For instance, it would be quite difficult to explain how proton pump inhibitors work if the person you are explaining it to does not know a single thing about ulcers and how they work. It is because of this that we decided to give you a few basic insights into how erectile dysfunction occurs and how it prevents men from achieving healthy erections as well as maintaining them.
First of all, we will describe the processes involved in achieving an erection. It all starts with sexual arousal. When a man is sexually aroused, his body starts, or more precisely, the endothelial cells in the arteries start releasing nitric oxide. Nitric oxide then stimulates production and functioning of cGMP in the smooth muscles of the arteries in the penis. cGMP acts by relaxing the smooth muscles, thus expanding the blood vessels. This allows the blood to rush into the corpus cavernosum (the sponge-like tissues) in the penis. This, in turn, produces a hydraulic effect which leads to an erection.
In erectile dysfunction, this process is interrupted, or at least affected by an enzyme called PDE5. The full name of it is phosphodiesterase enzyme type 5, which is found primarily in the penis. There are other phosphodiesterase enzymes with different numbers that are found in other blood vessels in the body, but we are mainly concerned with PDE5 here. PDE5 is, namely, the underlying cause of most cases of ED as it affects the cGMP adversely and leads to its deterioration. If cGMP is prevented from functioning properly, the blood vessels in the penis are not dilated and the hydraulic effect cannot be achieved due to lack of blood in the penis.
Viagra works by inhibiting this enzyme. This is why it is known as the first PDE5 inhibitor. Cialis and Levitra work in the same way and they are also considered PDE5 inhibitors. When Viagra inhibits the production of PDE5, it allows cGMP to function properly, leading to healthy erections. Inhibition of PDE5 is the only way to treat erectile dysfunction and this is why PDE5 inhibitors are the only way to address the issue of erectile dysfunction.