Title
Age-associated changes in histology and gene-expression profile in the rat ventral prostate
UMMS Affiliation
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; Department of Surgery, Division of Urology
Publication Date
2003-05-15
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Life Sciences | Medicine and Health Sciences
Abstract
The incidence of prostate diseases rises dramatically with age in men, yet little is understood of the mechanisms underlying prostatic senescence and its contribution to disease development in the gland. In Noble rats, aging of the ventral prostate (VP) is characterized morphologically by widespread atrophy of acini, increased accumulation of concretions in glandular lumen, infiltration of inflammatory cells, and focal epithelial atypia. We used a cDNA microarray containing 2388 known transcripts, together with the Tyramide Amplification System and t statistics, to identify differentially expressed genes in the VPs of young (3 months old) and old (16 months old) rats. A total of 78 VP genes were found to be differentially expressed by the two groups; in old rats, 65 VP genes (83%) showed reduced expression and 13 genes (17%) showed increased expression compared with young animals. The age-dependent underexpressed genes fell into several functional clusters: those involved in amino-acid metabolism, protein synthesis, protein secretion and degradation, vesicle/membrane trafficking, energy metabolism, signal transduction, spermidine and spermine syntheses, and cellular defense against stress. The overexpressed genes included iduronate 2-sulfatase, HLA class I locus C heavy chain, membrane cofactor protein of the complement system, TRPM-2, cadherin-associated protein-related, and X-CGD. Post hoc analyses confirmed a progressive decline in the expression of ribophorin II and BiP and a gradual increase in the expression of TRPM-2 in rat VPs as animals aged from 3 to 19 months old. In conclusion, the observed widespread declines in expression of genes involved in protein synthesis, protein fidelity maintenance, anabolism, growth inhibition, and energy metabolism, together with increased expression of genes implicated in cell survival in the VPs of senescent rats, may help explain the susceptibility of the prostates of elderly men to development of disease.
DOI of Published Version
10.1097/01.LAB.0000069519.06988.24
Source
Lab Invest. 2003 May;83(5):743-57.
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Laboratory investigation; a journal of technical methods and pathology
Related Resources
PubMed ID
12746483
Repository Citation
Lau K, Tam NN, Thompson CJ, Cheng RY, Leung Y, Ho S. (2003). Age-associated changes in histology and gene-expression profile in the rat ventral prostate. GSBS Student Publications. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.LAB.0000069519.06988.24. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/gsbs_sp/649