Lobe variation effects of experimental diabetes and insulin replacement on rat prostate

Abstract

We investigated the impact of diabetes with simultaneous and late insulin replacement on rat prostate growth during puberty, paying special attention to different prostatic lobes. Diabetes was induced by administration of streptozotocin (STZ) in 40-day-old male Wistar rats. A subset of diabetic rats underwent simultaneous insulin replacement (3 days after STZ administration), and another subset underwent a late insulin replacement (20 days after STZ administration). The ventral, dorsolateral, and anterior prostatic lobes were weighed and processed for histological, immunohistochemical, and morphometric analyses. Both diabetic and insulin-treated animals maintained low plasma testosterone (T) concentrations, whereas dihydrotestostenore (DHT) levels were normal. Diabetic animals had a decreased gain in absolute prostatic weight when compared to age-matched controls and insulin replacement animals. However, prostatic lobe weight in the diabetic animals was ∼100% higher, even at the beginning of the experiment. Among the lobes, the anterior lobe showed the highest weight gain in diabetic and insulin replacement conditions. Epithelial cell proliferation in all lobes was significantly reduced in diabetic animals and significantly increased in insulin replacement animals, although apoptosis was unaltered. In conclusion, diabetes diminishes, but does not abolish, prostate growth during puberty. Even late insulin administration reduces the adverse effects of this disease on the prostate. In a scenario with both low insulin and T levels, DHT and other factors may play an important role in pubertal prostate growth. The adverse effects of diabetes on the rat prostate show a variation in lobe response, suggesting that diabetes may affect human prostate zones differently.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia complicated with T1DM can be alleviated by treadmill exercise—evidences revealed by the rat model

“…Ikeda et al indicated that DM caused a substantial reduction in prostatic weight and serum testosterone levels in rats [ 17 ]. Similar results were also reported by Porto et al [ 18 ]. The prostate weight was substantially increased in the BPH control, compared with the normal control.…”

Influence of Melatonin on the Proliferative and Apoptotic Responses of the Prostate under Normal and Hyperglycemic Conditions

“…In addition to corroborate with previous evidence that diabetes markedly reduces cell proliferation and increases apoptosis in the prostate [ 37 , 39 , 43 , 53 ], the present results indicate, for the first time, that MLT administration (10 μ g/kg body weight/day) to Wistar rats retrieved the proliferative activity of the prostate after two months of experimental diabetes. This retrieval was associated with improvement of the androgen synthesis that is known to be impaired in chronic diabetes [ 43 , 45 , 53 ].…”

Path of translational discovery of urological complications of obesity and diabetes

“…A number of studies report that induction of diabetes caused a significant reduction in serum testosterone levels and in prostatic weight in rats (19,54). The lobe response to diabetes varied (92). After 1 wk, diabetes led to an atrophy of~35% in the ventral prostate and an increase in collagen (41).…”