Establishment of a prostatic hyperplasia model with beagle dogs

Objective: To establish a prostatic hyperplasia model with beagle dogs. Methods: Twenty-four male beagle dogs, 2 years of age, were divided into the treatment and control groups at random and were administrated testosterone propionate (TP) i.m. two months after castration. Three treatment groups were set with the doses of TP at 0.8 mg/kg, 2.5 mg/kg and 7.5 mg/kg, respectively, and the control was given the same volume of vehicle. Two months later, half of the animals were killed and sera samples were obtained. The wet weight and volume of prostate were measured. The dihydro testosterone (DHT) level of the serum and prostate were determined with the commercial radioimmunoassay (RIA) kit. The prostate was sectioned, fixed and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Pictures were taken with a digital camera under the microscope and were analyzed with a computer for the epithelial cell height and the acinar luminal area with micro image analysis software. The prostate volume was measured with ultrasonic diagnost     

缺氧诱导因子-1α在去势前后大鼠腹叶前列腺中表达的变化

目的探讨与缺氧相关的缺氧诱导因子-1α(HIF-1α)是否参与去势后前列腺萎缩过程.方法24只SD大鼠分为3组,其中A组(n=8)为假手术对照组,B组(n=8)为去势组,C组(n=8)为雄激素替代组(去势后肌注十一酸睾酮50mg/kg);术后3天处死,通过半定量RT-PCR检测与HIF-1α在去势前后前列腺表达变化.结果去势后大鼠前列腺的体积萎缩变小;雄激素替代组出现前列腺增生变大;对照组正常的大鼠前列腺有HIF-1 α mRNA低水平表达,去势组HIF-1α mRNA表达量增加,雄激素替代组HIF-1αmRNA表达量减少,与正常对照组比较,去势组的HIF-1α mRNA的表达量显著增加(P＜0.05),雄激素替代组的HIF-1αmRNA的表达量显著减少(P＜0.01).结论前列腺组织的缺氧参与去势后大鼠前列腺的早期萎缩过程.     

Optimising Hormone Therapy in Advanced Disease

Although most prostate cancer (PCa) patients nowadays are diagnosed at an early stage of disease, unfortunately still a significant number of patients will develop advanced PCa or will be diagnosed at an advanced (or metastatic) stage of disease. The group of patients showing the highest increase in incidence are those with rising prostate specific antigen (PSA) after radical therapy.In the last quarter of 2004, a Medline search has been performed targeting publications on patients diagnosed with advanced PCa, as well as with PSA relapse after previous radical therapy. This review aims at providing guidance to optimise hormone therapy in those selected groups of patients by addressing three pivotal questions; (i) who should receive hormonal treatment, (ii) what type of hormonal therapy should the patient be offered and (iii) what is the best timing of starting hormonal treatment.In patients relapsing after radical therapy, the PSA doubling time (PSA DT) has become a critical instrument to distinguish patients to have innocuous PSA evolution from patients at high risk for disease progression. A PSA DT of 3 months seems to be the cut-off point for identifying patients at risk. Therefore patients with a PSA DT of less than 3 months should be advised to initiate hormonal therapy. Antiandrogen monotherapy may be considered in this setting as it has been shown to delay progression; however, significant survival data are not yet available. Whether luteinising hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists should be given continuously or intermittently (IHT) remains subject of debate.Surgical castration has been the standard of care in patients diagnosed with advanced PCa. Currently, LHRH agonists have become the preferred way of suppressing testosterone.Combination of an antiandrogen and a LHRH agonist (CAB) shows a modest benefit over LHRH agonist monotherapy. As CAB leads to increased side effects and costs, LHRH agonist monotherapy is preferred in the majority of patients.Conflicting data have been published concerning the optimal timing of LHRH agonist therapy. So it is not clear whether LHRH agonist therapy should be started immediately or deferred until appearance of symptoms. When initiating continuous hormone therapy, patients should be carefully monitored for the risk of long term androgen deprivation (anaemia, osteopenia and osteoporosis).     

雌二醇对去势沙鼠脑缺血再灌注损伤后脑组织中NO和NOS的影响

目的　观察雌二醇对去势沙鼠脑缺血再灌注脑损伤的保护作用。方法　去势雌性沙鼠 30只 ,随机分为假手术组、缺血再灌注组和雌二醇干预组。采用夹闭双侧颈总动脉法复制沙鼠脑缺血再灌注模型 ,缺血 7min再灌注 12h ,取脑组织测定脑组织中一氧化氮 (NO)含量、一氧化氮合酶 (NOS)活力的变化 ,并取脑组织观察海马CA1区神经细胞的病理改变。结果　缺血再灌注组脑组织中NO含量明显增高 ,NOS活力明显降低 ,与假手术组比较有显著差异 (P <0 . 0 1) ;雌二醇干预组脑组织中NO水平明显降低 ,NOS活力有所增高 ,与缺血再灌注组比较有显著差异 (P <0 . 0 1) ;缺血再灌注组脑组织海马CA1区神经细胞损伤明显 ,脑组织水肿明显 ;雌二醇干预组神经细胞损伤明显减轻。结论　预防性应用雌二醇能明显减轻缺血再灌注所造成的神经细胞损伤 ,对脑缺血再灌注损伤有保护作用。     

Oestrogen-induced suppression of collagen arthritis; 17 beta-oestradiol is therapeutically active in normal and castrated F1 hybrid mice of both sexes.

The F1 hybrid mouse strain, from B10Q and DBA/1 parentals (the QD strain), is highly susceptible to induction of type II collagen-induced arthritis, an experimental model for rheumatoid arthritis. Males are more susceptible than females. Oophorectomy enhances susceptibility to arthritis and treatment with physiological doses of 17 beta-oestradiol (E2) suppresses disease. E2 treatment lowers the incidence of arthritis also in non-castrated and castrated males, showing that the anti-arthritic effect by oestrogen is not dependent on either sex hormone imprinting effects or interference with male sex hormones. Testosterone treatment of normal females, but not of castrated females, exaggerated development of the disease. In the testosterone-treated normal females, the oestrogen effect on vaginal smear was abolished and ovarian weight decreased, suggesting that the testosterone-mediated enhancing effect is caused by inhibition of ovarian oestrogen production. The crucial importance of oestrogens for the development of arthritis is focused on the effectiveness of treatment with gestation-related doses of E2 of normal, non-castrated females.     

TUNEL技术方法的探讨

探讨末端脱氧核苷酸转移酶介导的dUTP缺口标记技术（TUNEL）的染色方法,以期提高特异性与敏感性。采用以去势（经手术切除睾丸）后天数不同的大白鼠前列腺,用TUNEL法染色,观察不同时期的细胞凋亡水平,对经典的TUNEL法进行改良,将染色结果与TUNEL经典法和HE染色法进行对比。结果表明采用改良法后,阳性细胞明显增加,而且着色深,凋亡指数明显增高(P<0.01)。     

Androgen receptor-independent prostate cancer: an emerging clinical entity

Androgen deprivation therapy remains the backbone of prostate cancer treatment given its pivotal role in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer. The growing knowledge of androgen receptor-independent (i.e. AR-null) prostate cancer cells, however, might advance the treatment paradigm of prostate cancer. Here, we examined the results of two recent studies, published in Cancer Cell by Bluemn and Shukla et al., and their impact in the future management of castration-resistant prostate cancer.     

Estrogen receptor–β activated apoptosis in benign hyperplasia and cancer of the prostate is androgen independent and TNFα mediated

Prostate cancer (PCa) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) are androgen-dependent diseases commonly treated by inhibiting androgen action. However, androgen ablation or castration fail to target androgen-independent cells implicated in disease etiology and recurrence. Mechanistically different to castration, this study shows beneficial proapoptotic actions of estrogen receptor–β (ERβ) in BPH and PCa. ERβ agonist induces apoptosis in prostatic stromal, luminal and castrate-resistant basal epithelial cells of estrogen-deficient aromatase knock-out mice. This occurs via extrinsic (caspase-8) pathways, without reducing serum hormones, and perturbs the regenerative capacity of the epithelium. TNFα knock-out mice fail to respond to ERβ agonist, demonstrating the requirement for TNFα signaling. In human tissues, ERβ agonist induces apoptosis in stroma and epithelium of xenografted BPH specimens, including in the CD133⁺ enriched putative stem/progenitor cells isolated from BPH-1 cells in vitro. In PCa, ERβ causes apoptosis in Gleason Grade 7 xenografted tissues and androgen-independent cells lines (PC3 and DU145) via caspase-8. These data provide evidence of the beneficial effects of ERβ agonist on epithelium and stroma of BPH, as well as androgen-independent tumor cells implicated in recurrent disease. Our data are indicative of the therapeutic potential of ERβ agonist for treatment of PCa and/or BPH with or without androgen withdrawal.