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| Author(s): |
Sabrina Santos Rochel Maia
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Campinas, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia |
| Defense date: | 2010-12-17 |
| Examining board members: |
Sebastião Roberto Taboga;
Maria Christina Werneck de Avellar;
Renee Laufer Amorim;
Wellerson Rodrigo Scarano;
Mara Rubia Marques
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| Advisor: | Sebastião Roberto Taboga |
| Abstract | |
The present study aimed to: 1) Acess the activity of MMPs in the prostate gland of intact adult male and female gerbils, trying to compare the male prostate lobes with the female gland in different phases of the estrous cycle (Article I); 2) Evaluate the effect of testosterone on ventral prostate of males and on female prostate in the proestrus phase over the location of MMP-2 and TIMP-2, enzymes involved in stromal remodeling and cancer progression (Article II); and 3) Characterize the distribution of estrogen receptors, ER? and ER? in prostatatic tissue of male and female controls and under hormonal manipulation (Article III). Castration experiments (7 and 21 days) were conducted in adult male gerbils as well as hormone injection experiments (7 and 21 days) in adult females in the proestrus phase (T cypionate, 1 mg/kg or DHEA, 1 mg/kg). Tissues were evaluated by biochemical, histological and immunohistochemical methods. The gelatinolytic activity of MMPs, measured by zymography gel, differs from male prostatic lobes and the female gland, which presents the highest levels of MMP-2 and -9, probably due to its constant stromal remodeling promoted by the estrous cycle. Regarding the estrous cycle, the highest activity of MMP-2 and -9 was found in the estrus phase, indicating the influence of estrogen. Castration increased the expression of MMP-2 in the male ventral prostate, and this same effect was observed after 21 days of T injection in females, indicating that MMP and TIMP regulatory mechanism is also influenced by androgens, although differently between males and females since both the failure as the excess of T lead to the same effect, probably due to males and females presenting different patterns of expression for nuclear receptors, which are responsible for regulating the hormonal response by the tissues. According to our results, there is a remarkable difference in the immunolocalization of ER? between males and females, whose stromal cells presented two times more ER? than stromal cells of the male ventral prostate. This number was drastically reduced after 21 days of T injection in females, but not after castration of males. The immunoreaction to ER? was similar between intact males and females, but the castration of males or the hormonal injection in females promoted specific response, such as total absence of reaction after 21 days of T treatment in females or intense immunoreaction in some regions of ventral prostate after 21 days of castration. Additionally, epithelial lesions found in the experimental groups, were ER?-positives and ER?-negative, corroborating studies that relate ER? with the development and progression of prostatic diseases and ER? as a factor in preventing and treating cancer. The results obtained in this study therefore reinforce the concept that the estrogen/testosterone balance is essential for prostate homeostasis, and that either androgens or estrogens have an effect on the prostatic epithelial cells, via nuclear receptors, but also on the stromal compartment by regulating components such as MMPs. In the case of the female prostate, this interaction is even more complex since it involves the cyclical changes of the estrous cycle (AU) | |