Authors : Wael Amin Nasr El-Din 1, Islam Omar Abdel Fattah
Volume : 60
Issue : 1
Year : 2019
Page No : 145-158
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common aging disease in men. Garlic is known to have anti-proliferative effects. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the curative and preventive effects of garlic on BPH in rats. Rats were divided into five groups: control group, orchiectomized group (where rats were subjected to bilateral orchiectomies operation), BPH group [BPH was induced by intramuscular injection of testosterone (TE) enanthate once weekly for five weeks after orchiectomy], curative group (where rats were injected with TE for five weeks followed by daily administration of garlic powder for other five weeks), and preventive group (where rats were given garlic powder simultaneously with TE injections for five weeks). Serum levels of TE and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) were measured, and prostate weighed and processed for light microscopic, immunohistochemical and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) examination. Serum levels of TE and PSA, and prostate weight (PW) were significantly increased in BPH group and significantly decreased in curative and preventive ones. Histologically and morphometrically, BPH group showed epithelial hyperplasia, stromal expansion and reduced acinar lumens that were significantly improved in both curative and preventive groups. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression was increased while caspase-3 expression was decreased in BPH group. These results were reversed in both curative and preventive groups. TEM showed nuclear irregularities, dilated endoplasmic reticulum (ER) cisterns, and lost cell boundaries, secretory vesicles and apical microvilli. Most of the previous changes were minimized in preventive group more than in curative one.