Introduction: Lifelong premature ejaculation (LPE) is characterized by persistently shorter intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT) than found acceptable by the patient or his partner. It has been postulated to be a neurobiological dysfunction with genetic vulnerability and is related to disturbances of central serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) neurotransmission and 5-HT receptor function. Aim: To investigate the relationship between the C–759T and G–697C polymorphisms of the 5-HT_2C receptor and LPE. Methods: A prospective study was conducted in 106 Han Chinese men with LPE, characterized by IELT of less than 1 min, and 84 healthy controls with IELT of more than 3 min. All subjects were genotyped for the C–759T and G–697C polymorphisms located in the promoter region of the 5-HT_2C receptor. The frequencies of genotypes and single nucleotide mutations were compared between the two groups. Results: Three genotypes were detected both in the men with LPE and in the control group: –759C/–697G, –759T/–697C, and –759C/ –697C. Genotype –759T/–697G was not detected. The frequency of genotype –759T/–697C was higher in patients with LPE than in the control group (30.2 vs. 11.9%, p < 0.05), whereas the frequency of genotype –759C/–697G was lower in patients with LPE than in the control group (66.0 vs. 83.3%, p < 0.05). No difference was found for genotype –759C/ –697C between the two groups. Mutations at –759T and –697C were more frequent in patients than in the control group (–759T: 30.2 vs. 13.3%, p < 0.05; –697C: 30.4 vs. 16.7%, p < 0.05, respectively). Conclusions: Our findings indicated that polymorphisms in the 5-HT_2C receptor gene are associated with LPE, and men who carry the –759T or –697C genotype have increased odds of premature ejaculation. Further investigation in this field is necessary.

The presence of gr/gr-DAZ1/DAZ2 deletion in five men with normozoospermia suggests that this deletion per se may not be sufficient for spermatogenic impairment in Chinese men.

The effectiveness of a-adrenergic antagonists on patients with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/ CPPS) has not been supported by well-evaluated study. The metaanalysis was performed to supply the best evidence about use of this class of drugs in CP/CPPS. A fully recursive literature search to June 2005 was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, and the Chinese Biomedicine Database to identify potentially relevant randomized controlled trials. RevMan4.2 was used for statistical analysis. Nine studies with 734 patients were included. Combined analysis showed a significant reduction of total NIH-CPSI or I-PSS in patients with treatment duration of more than 3 months. There were also valuable results in urinary symptom alleviation. Alpha-adrenergic antagonists did not show benefit in pain. The meta-analysis revealed that the use of a-adrenergic antagonists was warranted in CP/CPPS, and the treatment duration should be long enough (more than 3 months).

Three mutations in Chinese ADPKD patients are described and all of them are de novo mutations. Data obtained from mutation analysis also suggests that the mutation rate of the 3' single-copy region of PKD1 in Chinese ADPKD patients is very low, and there are no mutation hot spots in the PKD1 gene. Mutations found in Chinese ADPKD patients, including nucleotide substitution and minor frameshift, are similar to the findings reported by other researchers. Many mutations of the PKD1 gene probably exist in the duplicated region, promoter region, and the introns of PKD1.

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