The healthy rat prostate contains high levels of natural killer-like cells and unique subsets of CD4+ helper-inducer T cells: implications for prostatitis

PURPOSE: Chronic nonbacterial prostatitis spontaneously develops in aged Lewis and Wistar rats but not in Sprague-Dawley rats. We report the unique profile of lymphocyte subsets present in the healthy Sprague-Dawley rat prostate. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We compared enzymatic and mechanical methods of intraprostatic lymphocyte isolation in healthy 8 to 10-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats. Mechanical isolation was chosen because of its superior preservation of surface antigens. Intraprostatic lymphocyte subsets were analyzed by flow cytometry. RESULTS: Levels of prostatic alphabetaTCR+ T cells were similar and levels of prostatic B cells were decreased 5 to 10-fold compared with those found in other tissues (p