[Macroscopic and histologic analysis of the rat prostate after denervation]

To determine the role of autonomic innervation in the preservation of the prostate gland structure, we analyzed the gross and histological features of the rat prostate submitted to denervation by resection of the pelvic ganglia.

The study comprised 80 male Sprague-Dawley rats aged 3 months; 42 were anesthetized and resection of the right pelvic ganglia was performed via laparotomy. Thirty days thereafter they were sacrificed. Gross and microscopic analyses of the right ventral lobe were performed. Computerized morphometric analyses of the areas occupied by the lumen, epithelial and stromal compartments, the height of the epithelium and the vascular pattern were performed. The results were compared with those obtained from the 38 ventral lobes of rats of the same age that had not undergone denervation.

Gross examination of denervated rat ventral lobe demonstrated atrophy and weighted 36% less (p < 0.001). Histological analysis of the compartments showed 27.9% were epithelial, 48.3% stromal and 51.8% glandular--epithelial and lumen--for the control group versus 14.8% (p < 0.001), 55.7% and 44.4% (not significant), respectively, for the denervated group. Denervated rat epithelial height measured 39.7% less. No differences in the vascular pattern were found.

Resection of the rat pelvic ganglia, thereby inducing near-total vesico-prostatic denervation, causes structural and functional changes in the rat prostate compatible with atrophy. The observed changes were a reduction in weight and volume, as well as in the height and surface area of the secretory epithelium.