Expression of apoptosis-regulating genes in the rat prostate following botulinum toxin type A injection

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2012

Authors

Gorgal, T. (Author) Other; Charrua, Ana (Author) FCNAUP; Silva, J.F. (Author) Other; Avelino, A. (Author) Other; Dinis, P. (Author) Other; Cruz, F. (Author) Other

Journal

Title: BMC Urology

Vol. 12

Pages: [1-7]

ISSN: 1471-2490

Publisher: Springer Nature

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 17 Citations

ISI Web of Science

Scopus - 9 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Medical and Health sciences

CORDIS: Health sciences

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-002-DZG

DOI: 10.1186/1471-2490-12-1

Abstract (EN): Background: Onabotulinumtoxin A (OnabotA) injection has been investigated as a novel treatment for benign prostatic enlargement caused by benign prostatic hyperplasia. An OnabotA - induced volume reduction caused by sympathetic fibers impairment has been proposed as a potential mechanism of action. Our aim was to investigate the expression of apoptosis-regulating proteins in the rat prostate following OnabotA intraprostatic injection. Methods: Adult Wistar rats were injected in the ventral lobes of the prostate with 10 U of OnabotA or saline. A set of OnabotA-injected animals was further treated with 0.5 mg/kg of phenylephrine (PHE) subcutaneously daily. All animals were sacrificed after 1 week and had their prostates harvested. Immunohistochemical staining was performed for Bax, Bcl-xL and caspase-3 proteins and visualized by the avidin-biotin method. The optical density of the glandular cells was also determined, with measurement of differences between average optical densities for each group. Results: Saline-treated animals showed intense epithelial staining for Bcl-xL and a faint labelling for both Bax and Caspase-3. OnabotA-treated rats showed a reduced epithelial staining of Bcl-xL and a consistently increased Bax and Caspase-3 staining when compared with saline-treated animals. PHE-treated animals showed a stronger Bcl-xL staining and reduced staining of both Bax and Caspase-3 when compared to the OnabotA group. Mean signal intensity measurements for each immunoreaction confirmed a significant decrease of the signal intensity for Bcl-xL and a significant increase of the signal intensity for Bax and Caspase 3 in OnabotA-injected animals when compared with the control group. In OnabotA+PHE treated animals mean signal intensity for Bcl-xL, Bax and Caspase 3 immunoreactions was identical to that of the control animals. Conclusions: These results support the hypothesis that OnabotA activates apoptotic pathways in the rat prostate through a mechanism that involves sympathetic outflow impairment.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

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