Eriochloa villosa Alleviates Progression of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia in vitro and in vivo.

Abstract

IntroductionBenign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a non-neoplastic proliferative disease of the prostate. Eriochloa villosa (EV) reportedly possesses various pharmacological activities, including anti-lipase activity and modulation of various antioxidative enzymes. In this study, we investigate the therapeutic potential of EV against BPH in a testosterone-induced BPH rat model.MethodsRats were subjected to a daily subcutaneous injection of testosterone (3 mg kg−1) for 4 weeks to induce BPH. Along with testosterone, rats in the treatment group were administered finasteride (10 mg kg−1) or EV (150 mg kg−1) via oral gavage. Prostatic cancer (LNCaP) cell line was used to examine the effect of EV.ResultsFinasteride and EV significantly decrease the relative prostate weight, serum levels of dihydrotestosterone and testosterone, and prostate epithelial thickness. Testosterone injection induced prostatic hyperplasia and proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression; however, EV treatment significantly attenuated these effects. Moreover, finasteride- and EV-treated rats exhibit an increase in the number of TUNEL-positive cells and reduced Bcl-2 expression in the prostate tissues compared with the testosterone-treated animals. Furthermore, EV suppresses inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8, in the prostate tissues. Meanwhile, the expression of inflammatory mediator cyclooxygenase-2 is consistently upregulated in testosterone-treated rats, whereas EV treatment significantly reverses this effect. Notably, EV treatment suppresses malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and upregulates testosterone-induced catalase (CAT) expression. In addition, EV suppresses expression of androgen receptor (AR) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) induced by testosterone in LNCaP cells.ConclusionThe present study results suggest that EV regulates prostatic proliferation, apoptosis, response to inflammation, and oxidative stress in the BPH rat model, and may, therefore, serve as a useful therapeutic agent for BPH.