Experimental study of apoptosis in the prostate tissue following castration

The Prostate gland is one of the accessory reproductive glands with important physiological functions necessary for successful reproduction. This gland depends on the presence of sex hormones including androgens for its natural function and normal growth and development. So in the case of hyperplasia, hypertrophy or other prostatic disease the most successful and efficient method of treatment is androgenic control that in some cases is unavoidable. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of androgenic depletion states by means of castration on the induction of apoptosis in the epithelial glandular cells of the prostate tissue. Two groups of male dogs each containing 5 animals per group were used in this study. The dogs were under observation for 1 month to detect any possible diseases or disorders. After this period the dogs in the treatment group underwent open castration to decrease the levels of the androgenic hormones in the blood while the dogs in the control group were left intact. One week after surgery, the prostate glands of control and treatment animals were collected and used to prepare microscopic sections. The sections were evaluated following staining with TUNEL (TerminaldeoxyNucleotidyl (dUTP) transferase-mediated End Labeling) and H&E methods. The Mann – Whitney U test was used for statistical analysis. Histopathological studies in the treatment group revealed the presence of various forms of apoptotic cells in the glandular epithelium. Average number of apoptotic cells in ten microscopic fields were significantly higher in the treatment group compared with the control group (p