A novel mouse model of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome induced by immunization of special peptide fragment with aluminum hydroxide adjuvant.

OBJECTIVES

CP/CPPS is a commonly observed distress in male patients. Because of its little-known etiology, no effective therapy has been developed which has promising outcomes. Therefore, there is a need to develop a valid model which can mimic the etiology of CP/CPPS.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Fifty male C57BL/6 mice were randomly and averagely divided into 5 groups of 10 mice each. The control group was injected with 0.9% NaCl solution. Aluminum hydroxide and T groups were injected with aluminum hydroxide adjuvant and T peptide. T plus complete Freund adjuvant (CFA) with aluminum hydroxide group was injected with a mixture of T, CFA and aluminum hydroxide adjuvant. At the same time, CFA group was injected with complete Freund adjuvant. Hematoxylin-eosin stain and immunohistochemistry were used to investigate inflammatory lesion and expression of IL-β1. Furthermore, TNF-α and CRP protein levels were evaluated by using commercially available ELISA kits. The ANOVA test was used to compare the statistical differences among groups.

RESULTS

Prostates from a mixture of T plus CFA with aluminum hydroxide immunized mice showed elevated lesions and high level of inflammatory cells infiltration compared to the other groups. In addition, the levels of TNF-α, IL-β1, and CRP were also higher in the T plus CFA with aluminum hydroxide group as compared to the other groups.

CONCLUSION

Our results showed that T with CFA plus aluminum hydroxide adjuvant injection could successfully induce CP/CPPS in mice. This autoimmune novel model provides a useful, economic, safer, and easy tool for exploring the etiology and pathophysiology of CP/CPPS which will improve the therapeutic outcomes.