title: Expression of nerve growth factor in the prostate of male rats in response to chronic stress and sympathetic denervation.
abstract: Nerve growth factor (NGF) has been found in the normal prostate of the Wistar rat and is regarded as an important prostatic mitogen. We have previously shown that chronic stress induced epithelial hyperplasia while sympathetic denervation caused atrophy in the male Wistar rat prostate. NGF may have been a contributing mechanism to the hyperplasia and atrophy response that was observed. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of NGF in the prostate of the male rat in response to chronic stress and denervation. Two weeks of restraint water-immersion stress were used to induce a chronic stress model in Wistar rats. Denervation of the peripheral sympathetic nerve was induced by 6-hydroxydopamine. The expression levels of NGF in the dissected prostate lobes were examined by immunohistochemistry. After 14 days of stress, proliferation of the epithelium in the ventral lobes was observed, whereas the dorsolateral lobes were almost unaffected. NGF immunoreactive protein was localized to the columnar secretory epithelium lines of the prostate tissue. Stress and denervation led to an increase in NGF expression in the ventral lobes. In conclusion, NGF was involved in the hyperplasia and atrophy in the prostate of the male rat in response to chronic stress and sympathetic denervation, and thus may be a contributing factor in the pathophysiology of the prostate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250014, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shengliang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250012, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xuebei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250014, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Liuyu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250014, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250014, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qingli
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhao
keywords: Wistar rat; chronic stress; nerve growth factor; prostatic disease; sympathetic denervation