Risbridger G P, Almahbobi G A, Taylor R A
Centre for Urological Research, Monash Institute of Medical Research, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia.
Cell Tissue Res. 2005 Oct;322(1):173-81. doi: 10.1007/s00441-005-1121-9. Epub 2005 Nov 3.
The development of the prostate is an emerging priority area for prostate biologists. Early changes in prostate development permanently alter prostate morphology and function and an understanding of the permanent nature of early events that may influence the onset of late-life disease is vital. Two of the inherent problems involve associating exposure in early life with outcome in late life or maturity and accounting for the influence of genetic, environmental, dietary or metabolic factors during the intervening period. Any one of these factors, alone or in combination, might lead to an explanation of the discrepancies found in the literature regarding the influence of early changes to the prostate in later life. Therefore, it is important to establish a causal link between the hormonal changes that occur during the fetal/neonatal period and that imprint the gland and the onset of late-life pathology. In order to achieve this goal, several technical challenges need to be overcome to permit the objective assessment of prostate branching morphogenesis. Stereological techniques now allow the quantification of several parameters of branching morphogenesis and the identification of specific early changes that are permanent and irreversible with a late-life outcome. This methodology provides the means to determine the action of a range of genes or hormone/growth factors that have been implicated in prostate development and disease.
前列腺的发育是前列腺生物学家一个新出现的重点研究领域。前列腺发育的早期变化会永久性地改变前列腺的形态和功能，而了解可能影响晚年疾病发病的早期事件的永久性本质至关重要。其中两个内在问题包括将早年的暴露与晚年或成年期的结果联系起来，以及解释在此期间遗传、环境、饮食或代谢因素的影响。这些因素中的任何一个，单独或综合起来，都可能解释文献中关于前列腺早期变化对晚年影响的差异。因此，在胎儿/新生儿期发生的、对前列腺产生印记的激素变化与晚年病理的发生之间建立因果联系非常重要。为了实现这一目标，需要克服几个技术挑战，以便对前列腺分支形态发生进行客观评估。体视学技术现在能够对分支形态发生的几个参数进行量化，并识别出具有永久性且不可逆转的特定早期变化及其晚年结果。这种方法提供了手段来确定一系列与前列腺发育和疾病有关的基因或激素/生长因子的作用。
