Abacopteris penangiana exerts testosterone-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia protective effect through regulating inflammatory responses, reducing oxidative stress and anti-proliferative.

Abacopteris penangiana (Hook.) Ching (AP) is a member of parathelypteris glanduligera and used in folk medicine for the treatment of blood circulation and blood stasis, edema and inflammation as recorded in the ″Chinese Materia Medica″. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of total flavanol glycosides (TFA) from AP and its acid hydrolysate (AHT) on testosterone-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in rats by measuring the levels of inflammatory responses, oxidative stress and prostate cell proliferation. BPH was induced in rats by subcutaneous injection of testosterone after castration. Seventy rats were divided into seven groups. After oral administration of AHT and TFA (100 or 200mg/kg/d) for 4 weeks, the prostate index (PI), 5a-reductase (5α-R) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) were determined. Then the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and catalase (CAT) were determined. In addition, the relative inflammatory factors, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin 1β (IL-1β), interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 8 (IL-8) and interleukin 17 (IL-17) were measured. Finally, the prostatic expression of nuclear transcription factor-κB (NF-κB) and phosphoinositide3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt were determined by immunohistochemistry. The prostatic expression of Bcl-2 was determined by western blot analysis. The results showed that AHT and TFA decreased serum DHT and 5α-R activities compared with model group, as well as the PI and histopathological examination findings. In addition, oral treatment of AHT and TFA can significantly increase the activities of SOD, GPx and CAT while the level of MDA was significantly decreased compared with the model group. Moreover, AHT and TFA remarkably decreased the levels of inflammatory cytokines in prostatic tissue. Further investigation demonstrated that AHT and TFA treatment down-regulated the protein expressions of p-Akt, NF-κB and Bcl-2. These results suggest that AHT and TFA have anti-BPH properties via anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-proliferative effects. Hence, AP represents a potential herb for the treatment of BPH.