ABSTRACT
Objective Benign prostatic hyperplasia ( BPH) is one of common diseases in aged males , and searching for new therapeutic drugs to BPH has been a research hotspot in recent years .This article was to study the inhibitory effect of eupatorium ja-ponicum thunb and foeniculum vulgare extract ( EFE) on benign prostatic hyperplasia in rats and its possible mechanism . Methods 48 male rats were randomly divided into 6 groups:normal control group without any treatment , model group of BPH treated with subcu-taneous injection of testosterone propionate , positive control group of BPH treated with dutasteride , high, middle and low dosage groups according to different EFE dosage (156 mg/kg, 234 mg/kg and 312 mg/kg).45 days after the treatment, the rats were sacrificed for measurement of the prostate glandular wet weight , the index of prostate gland ( PI ) , the morphological changes of prostate gland by light microscopy and the content of sex hormone . Results The prostate wet weight and PI decreased after EFE treatment for 45 days compared with the BPH model group(P<0.01 ).The hyperplastic glandular epithelium papilla waned and even disappeared in three EFE groups under the light microscope , and the epithelial cells became cubical or flat .High dosage EFE group (312 mg/kg) has simi-lar efficacy to dutasteride group .EFE significantly reduced serum testosterone content , dihydrotestosterone content and T/E2 ratio( P<0.05 ). Conclusion EFE can significantly inhibit prostatic hyperplasia in rats , and its mechanism is related to the decrease of the contents of serum testosterone and dihydrotestosterone as well as T/E2 ratio.