Curcumin is efficacious for chronic nonbacterial prostatitis in rats. - GreenMedInfo Summary
[Reducing effect of curcumin on expressions of TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-8 in rats with chronic nonbacterial prostatitis].
Zhonghua Nan Ke Xue. 2010 Jan;16(1):84-8. PMID: 20180411
Research Institute of Urology, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning , Guangxi 530021, China. [email protected]
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of curcumin on the expressions of TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-8 in rats with chronic nonbacterial prostatitis.
METHODS: Sixty healthy adult male SD rats with the body weight of 200 -220 g were equally and randomly divided into a normal control, a positive control, a model, an oral curcumin and an intraperitoneal curcumin group. The rat models of chronic nonbacterial prostatitis were made by hypodermic injection of estradiol benzoate at the dose of 0.25 mg/(kg x d) for 30 days after castration, and then treated with curcumin at 200 mg/(kg x d) by gavage or intraperitoneal injection. The positive controls received oral celebrex at 250 mg/(kg x d), while the normal control and model groups were given saline by gavage. After a week of treatment, the levels of TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-8 in the serum and prostate tissues of the rats were detected by ELISA assay.
RESULTS: The levels of TNF-alpha and IL-8 in the serum and prostate tissues were significantly lower in the intraperitoneal curcumin than in the positive control group (P<0.05), but the expression of IL-6 showed no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.01).
CONCLUSION: Curcumin is efficacious for chronic nonbacterial prostatitis in rats, and the action mechanism may be associated with its decreasing effect on the proinflammatory cytokines IL-8 and TNF-alpha in the blood and tissues.
