17-BETA-ESTRADIOL INDUCED PROSTATITIS IN THE RAT IS AN AUTOIMMUNE-DISEASE

Purpose: Studies suggest that alteration in steroid hormone levels may be one of the factors causing nonbacterial prostatitis (NBP) in rats. We hypothesized that hormonally induced prostatitis in the rat may be an autoimmune disease, Studies were carried out to prove this hypothe sis. Materials and Methods: We injected 17 beta-estradiol (E(2); 250 m u g./kg. subcutaneously) or vehicle into 1-year-old male rats for 30 d ays, and isolated and cultured the splenocytes in the presence of con- A (Experiment 1), Approximately 10(7) splenocytes were adoptively tran sferred into young naive syngeneic rats. To find out whether or not th e inflammation is mediated by T-lymphocytes, a pure population of T-ly mphocytes from E(2)-treated 3-month-old rats was injected into young n aive syngeneic rats (Experiment 2), To rule out the possibility that t he inflammation was due to con-A itself, we cross-linked some T-cells with anti-CD3 antibody before adoptive transfer (Experiment 2). Result s: The recipients of splenocytes from E(2)-treated animals presented e vidence of inflammation in terms of lymphocytic infiltration and prese nce of degranulated mast cells, Furthermore, we observed in these anim als an increase in histamine-releasing peptide (HRP) levels, an indica tion of plasma extravasation. The T-cells stimulated by anti-CD3 antib ody produced a similar degrees of inflammation, thereby ruling out the possibility that the inflammation was due to con-A, The results also indicated that the immune response to antigen(s) is not dependent on t he age of the animal but is dependent on a population of CD3(+) T-cell s. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that hormonal imbalance and aut oimmunity in male rats produce the symptoms of nonbacterial prostatiti s.