Portulaca oleracea Extract Ameliorates Testosterone Propionate‐Induced Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia in Male Sprague‐Dawley Rats

ABSTRACT

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a distressing health problem that can cause serious complications in aging men. Androgens are implicated in the causation of BPH. Portulaca oleracea (PO) is a natural product with diverse pharmacological effects. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of PO in a rat model of testosterone propionate (TP)‐induced BPH and explore the underlying mechanisms. Thirty‐five Sprague‐Dawley (SD) rats were divided into the following equal groups (n = 7): normal control (NC) group, TP (3 mg/kg) group, finasteride (10 mg/kg) group, 25 and 50 mg/kg PO groups.

At the end of the experiment, the body weights (BWs) of the rats were measured before they were euthanized to the establishment obtain serum and prostate weight (PW). TP‐induced levels of androgen‐related proteins in the prostate were also investigated. In the TP group, prostate size, BW, serum DHT level, prostate epithelial cell thickness and androgen‐related protein level were higher than those in the NC group (p < 0.001). PO reversed TP‐induced BPH in a dose‐dependent manner (p < 0.01) and its effect was similar to that of finasteride. A similar effect of PO on the androgen‐related protein level was also observed. We successfully established a TP‐induced BPH rat model. This is the first study to demonstrate that inhibition of androgen‐related proteins using PO can alleviate BPH.