A phytosterol-enriched saw palmetto supercritical CO2 extract ameliorates testosterone-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia by regulating the inflammatory and apoptotic proteins in a rat model

Heggar V Sudeep,Anitha Anitha,Karempudi Venkatakrishna,Kodimule Shyamprasad,Ballal Amrutharaj

doi:10.1186/s12906-019-2697-z

Abstract

BackgroundBenign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a pathological condition affecting older men. BPH complications often lead to deterioration in the quality of life. Serenoa repens (Saw Palmetto) is used for treating lower urinary tract infections in traditional medicine.MethodsThis study was performed to compare the efficacy of β-sitosterol enriched saw palmetto oil (VISPO) and conventional saw palmetto oil (SPO) extracted using supercritical fluid extraction, in alleviating the BPH complications using testosterone-induced BPH model rats. The animals received testosterone (5 mg/kg s.c.) with or without SPO and VISPO (200 and 400 mg/kg b.w.) or Finasteride (1 mg/kg b.w.) p.o. for 28 days. At the end of the experiment, overnight fasted animals were euthanized, blood samples collected for serum analysis of testosterone. Prostate tissue histomorphology was examined by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. Western blot analysis was performed using prostate tissue homogenates.ResultsVISPO exhibited superior efficacy compared to SPO as evident from the significant decrease in prostate weight to body weight ratio, serum testosterone level and increase in growth inhibition of prostate tissue compared to BPH group (p < 0.001). Histological examination of prostate tissue samples showed that VISPO treatment was comparatively better than SPO in improving the hyperplastic patterns. Further, VISPO significantly regulated the expression of inflammatory and apoptotic marker proteins in BPH rats.ConclusionOur data provide experimental evidence that β-sitosterol enriched saw palmetto oil could be higher efficacious in treating the BPH complications compared to the conventional saw palmetto oil preparations.

Highlights

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a pathological condition affecting older men
β-sitosterol enriched saw palmetto oil (VISPO) prevents hyperplasia in testosterone-induced BPH The mean prostate weight of animals in the BPH group was significantly increased as compared to the normal rats (p < 0.001) indicating that testosterone-induced BPH in rats
VISPO treated groups markedly decreased the prostate weight compared to BPH group (p < 0.001). 400 mg/kg treatment of VISPO reduced the prostate weight by 2.43-fold which was comparable to Finasteride treatment (2.51 fold)

Summary

Introduction

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a pathological condition affecting older men. BPH complications often lead to deterioration in the quality of life. Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is an age-related benign proliferative disease affecting males [1]. BPH is characterised by benign enlargement of prostate deteriorating quality of life in older men [2, 3]. BPH complications have been evident in 20% of the male population in their 50s and the prevalence increased to > 35% in men aging 70 and above [4]. Experimental data from previous studies have demonstrated a relationship between inflammation of the prostate and BPH development [7, 8]. Inflammatory infiltrates were detected in the prostate tissue indicating chronic inflammation could be a cause of BPH [9].

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