Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a urologic disease that affects most of men over the age 50. But until now there is no such perfect cure without side effects. Because of diverse adverse effects, it is desirable to develop effective and long term-safety-herbal medicines to inhibit the progress of BPH. In spite of garlic's large use and a wide spectrum of studies, including anti-hyperlipidemic, cardio-protective, and anti-inflammatory activities, there was none to prove efficacy for BPH. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of garlic to prove its suppressing effects on BPH. Garlic administration decreased relative prostate weight ratio, suppressed mRNA expression level of AR, DHT serum levels, and the growth of prostatic tissue in BPH-induced rats. Moreover, garlic administration decreased the levels of inflammatory proteins, iNOS, and COX-2 in prostatic tissue. Further investigation showed that garlic induced accumulation of death-inducing signal complex and activation of AMPK and decreased the levels of anti-apoptotic proteins, such as Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, and survivin. These results suggest that garlic may have suppressing effects on BPH and it has great potential to be developed as treatment for BPH. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Phytotherapy research : PTR. 2016 May 18 [Epub ahead of print]
Kyung-Sook Chung, Su-Jin Shin, Na Young Lee, Se-Yun Cheon, Wansu Park, Seung-Ho Sun, Hyo-Jin An
Department of Pharmacology, College of Oriental Medicine, Sangji University, Gangwon-do, 220-702, Republic of Korea., Department of Pharmacology, College of Oriental Medicine, Sangji University, Gangwon-do, 220-702, Republic of Korea., Department of Pharmacology, College of Oriental Medicine, Sangji University, Gangwon-do, 220-702, Republic of Korea., Department of Pharmacology, College of Oriental Medicine, Sangji University, Gangwon-do, 220-702, Republic of Korea., Department of Pathology, College of Korean Medicine, Gachon University, Seongnam, 461-701, Republic of Korea., Department of Oriental Internal Medicine, Oriental Hospital of Sang-Ji University, Gangwon-do, 220-702, Republic of Korea., Department of Pharmacology, College of Oriental Medicine, Sangji University, Gangwon-do, 220-702, Republic of Korea.