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

Eun Bok Baek; Youn-Hwan Hwang; Suyoung Park; Eun-Ju Hong; Young-Suk Won; Hyo-Jung Kwun

doi:10.2147/RRU.S381713

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

Res Rep Urol. 2022 Sep 24:14:313-326. doi: 10.2147/RRU.S381713. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Eun Bok Baek¹, Youn-Hwan Hwang², Suyoung Park¹, Eun-Ju Hong¹, Young-Suk Won³, Hyo-Jung Kwun¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Veterinary Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea.
² Herbal Medicine Research Division, Korean Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Korea.
³ Laboratory Animal Resource Center, Korean Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chungbuk, Korea.

Abstract

Introduction: Benign 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.

Methods: Rats 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.

Results: Finasteride 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.

Conclusion: The 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.

Keywords: Eriochloa villosa; apoptosis; benign prostatic hyperplasia; inflammation; oxidative stress; proliferation.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the research fund of Chungnam National University.