Effects of p38MAPK on Rats with Chronic Nonbacterial Prostatitis Neuralgia and the Intervention Effect of Quercetin

OBJECTIVE To explore the possible mechanism of quercetin on neuralgia in chronic nonbacterial prostatitis(CNP) rats. METHODS The CNP rat models were established by prostatic protein purification with Freund’s completed adjuvant. The morphological differences in the prostate tissue were observed by HE staining. The changes of the content of IL-8, TNF-α and ENA-78 in serum were evaluated by ELISA. The expression of NGF were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. The expression of MMP-9, p-p38MAPK and p38MAPK were evaluated by Western blotting. RESULTS The pathological alterations of chronic prostatitis in quercetin groups were improved compared with model group; the content of IL-8, TNF-α and ENA-78 in model group were increased, but 200 mg·kg^-1 dose group of quercetin could obviously reduce the serumal content of IL-8, TNF-α and ENA-78; 200 mg·kg^-1 dose group of quercetin could obviously reduce prostate expression of NGF, p-p38MAPK and p38MAPK. CONCLUSION P38MAPK signal pathway is activated in CNP rats. Quercetin can drcrease the content of IL-8, TNF-α and ENA-78, and down-regulate the expression of p38MAPK and p-p38MAPK, which may provide a new way for the treatment of nonbacterial prostatitis neuralgia.