Correlation between Cholinergic Innervation, Autophagy, and Etiopathology of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

Background： Whether cholinergic innervations and/or autophagy have a role in the etiopathology of benign prostatic hyperplasia （BPH） is still unknown. This study aimed to investigate the role of cholinergic innervation and autophagy in the etiopathology of BPH. Methods： Male, 13-week-old spontaneous hypertension rats （spontaneous BPH animal model） were divided into three groups： an experimental group （EG, n = 24）, a control group （CG, n = 24）, and a normal control group （NC, n = 10）. The EG animals were intragastrically injected with tolterodine （3.5 mg/kg, twice a day）, CG animals were intragastrically injected with physiological saline, and the NC animals did not receive any treatment. Rats were sacrificed every 4 weeks, and the prostatic gross morphological changes, wet weight/body weight （ww/bw）, dry weight/wet weight （dw/ww）, histological changes, ultrastructural changes, and LC3 immunohistochemistry were continuously observed and compared. Results： The gross morphological and ww/bw changes in the three groups were similar at every stage. The dw/ww （mg/mg） values of the EG at week 17, 21, 25, and 29 were 0.1478 ±0.0034, 0.1653 ± 0.0036, 0.1668 ± 0.0045, and 0.1755±0.0034, respectively, and the CG values were 0.1511 ±0.0029, 0.1734± 0.0020, 0.1837 ±0.0052, and 0.1968 ± 0.0045, respectively. The difference between EG and CG for dw/ww showed statistical significance after 21 weeks of age （week 21： P = 0.016, week 25： P = 0.008, and week 29： P = 0.001）. Both EG and CG, prostatic glandular epithelial cell proliferation, and secretory function improved with age, but in EG, these improvements were slower than those in CG, and all the differences were statistically significant after 21 weeks. An increasing number of autophagosomes in the prostatic glandular cell cytoplasm, attenuation of LC3-I immunohistochemical staining, enhancement of LC3-II staining, and the ratio of LC3-1I/LC3-1 staining were all progressive in both groups, but the rate of change in EG was faster than that in CG, and these differences gained statistical significance after 25 weeks. Comparisons with regard to the above indexes between CG and NC showed no statistical significance at any stage. Conclusions： Cholinergic innervations and activation of autophagy appear to have important functions in the etiopathology of BPH. Drug-mediated blockade of cholinergic innervations could delay the physiopathology processes. Moreover, overactivation of autophagy may also play an important role in this delay.

THE STUDIES OF SERUM CVB-SPECIFIC IgM ANTIBODY AND NITRIC OXIDE AMONG THE PATIENTS WITH LATENT AND CHRONIC KESHAN DISEASE

Objective To investigate the serum coxsackie virus B(CVB) infection and nitric oxide (NO)level of the patients suffer from latent or chronic Keshan disease and their characteristics in the etiopathology of Keshan disease. Methods Sera were isolated from 30 patients with latent or chronic Keshan disease in Huangling county. Shaanxi Province, and the CVB-specific IgM antibody and NO were tested. Control groups were health subjects in Huangling county or Xi’an city, Shaanxi Province. Results The percentage of CVB-specific IgM positive in patients in Huangling county was significantly higher than that of both control groups in Huangling county and Xi’an city (P< 0.05). The serum level of NO In patients was significantly higher than that of the control group in Huangling county (P<0.05).however,compared with control group in Xi’an city. there was no difference (P>0.05). In CVB-specific IgM positive patients,the serum level of NO was significantly higher than that of CVB-specific 1gM negative group (P <0.05). Conclusion CVB infection and serum NO level might be related to the etiopathology and the development of Keshan disease.