Vascular tone signal
Cavernosal tone
Also searched as Cavernosal tone.
The opposing arm to nitric oxide. Tone is set by the balance between relaxation signaling and RhoA/rock constriction, not by relaxation alone.
In depth
The vascular tone pathway that opposes nitric-oxide relaxation. Smooth muscle sits between two systems, and tone is the balance of them rather than the output of either.
What drives it
Sympathetic drive reduces it.
Adrenergic tone drives RhoA/ROCK-mediated constriction. Carried by the vascular and erectile physiology reviews. doi 10.21037/tau-2025-419 · PMC11988752
What it drives
It reduces Vessel wall muscle.
RhoA/ROCK maintains contraction by calcium sensitization - the opposing arm to nitric oxide. Carried by the vascular and erectile physiology reviews. doi 10.21037/tau-2025-419 · PMC11988752
It reduces Sexual function.
Tone is set by the balance between relaxation signaling and RhoA/ROCK constriction, not by relaxation alone. Carried by the vascular and erectile physiology reviews. doi 10.21037/tau-2025-419 · PMC11988752
It increases Blood pressure.
Calcium sensitization raises vascular resistance independently of calcium concentration. Carried by the vascular and erectile physiology reviews. doi 10.21037/tau-2025-419 · PMC11988752
It increases Erectile tissue scarring.
Sustained RhoA/ROCK signaling is profibrotic as well as contractile. Carried by the vascular and erectile physiology reviews. doi 10.21037/tau-2025-419 · PMC11988752
Blends that modulate it
Each blend page names this pathway and carries the study behind its claim.
See it on the map
Open the causal map to follow this pathway upstream and downstream, arrow by arrow, each with its study.