Dose-dependent influence of progesterone on the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) prostate: consequences of its post-castration administration

• Grant number: 11/22094-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2012
• End date: November 30, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Morphology - Histology
• Principal Investigator: Sebastião Roberto Taboga
• Grantee: Julia Quilles Antoniassi
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The prostate, gland of the reproductive system which embryonic originates from the urogenital sinus, is not unique to the male reproductive system and is also found in females of several species, including humans and rodents. In the male it may present highly developed because of the presence of the testosterone hormone, and, although poorly developed in females, due to low amounts of the same type hormone is a functional gland. In adult female gerbils, the prostate has a paraurethral location, exhibiting intimate contact with the proximal and medial wall of the urethra, which is homologous to the ventral prostate of male rodents. In males and females, prostatic physiology is regulated by hormones steroid, especially androgens and estrogens. While androgens induce differentiation, development, and secretory activity, estrogens appear to modulate androgenic effects, while maintaining normal growth and physiology of the prostate. Although knowing the influence of progesterone in the physiology of reproductive system female and male, few studies explore its influence, specifically, on the prostate gland in both sexes. In female rodents, including the Mongolian gerbil, the factors that influence the activity prostatic are little known, in spite of there is evidence that hormonal fluctuations arising the of the estrous cycle influence in morphophysiology of female prostate, and that hormonal changes due to senescence are associated the installation of prostate lesions in both sexes. Thus, this project aims to evaluate, by histological methods, histochemical, immunocytochemical and structural with qualitative and quantitative parameters, various morphofunctional aspects of the prostate gland of males and females, mainly due to the influence of progesterone. (AU)