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Effects of hyperprolactinemia on rat prostate growth: evidence of androgeno-dependence

2001; American Physiological Society; Volume: 280; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1152/ajpendo.2001.280.1.e120

1522-1555

Fabien Van Coppenolle, Christian Slomianny, Françoise Carpentier, Xuefen Le Bourhis, Ahmed Ahidouch, Dominique Croix, Guillaume Legrand, Etienne Dewailly, Sarah Fournier, Henri Cousse, Dominique Authie, Jean‐Pierre Raynaud, Jean‐Claude Beauvillain, Jean‐Paul Dupouy, Natalia Prevarskaya,

Growth Hormone and Insulin-like Growth Factors

The effects of the polypeptide hormone prolactin (PRL) in the development and regulation of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and also in prostate cancer are not very well characterized. This study examines the action of PRL, either alone or in association with androgens [testosterone (T) or dihydrotestosterone (DHT)], in the rat prostate gland. The effects of PRL and androgens were investigated after 30 and 60 days in control, castrated, castrated with a substitutive implant of T or DHT, and sham-operated Wistar rats. To enhance PRL release, we induced hyperprolactinemia by administering chronic injections of sulpiride (40 mg · kg −1 · day −1 ). Chronic hyperprolactinemia induces enlargement and inflammation of the lateral rat prostate without any histological changes on ventral and dorsal lobes. We also demonstrate that hyperprolactinemia induces Bcl-2 overexpression in the lateral rat prostate and that this could inhibit the level of apoptosis. The in vivo model established here is a useful in vivo approach for studying the hormonal regulation of normal and pathological prostate development.