RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the morphological and molecular biological peculiarities of the experimental autoimmune prostatitis (EAP) rat model made by SC purified prostate protein twice with immune adjuvant.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Male rats were intradermally immunized with a saline extract of male rat prostate glands (RPG) in Freund's complete adjuvant (FCA) and Pertussis-Diphtheria-Tetanus vaccine 0.5 ml i.p. at the 0 and 30th day, and the concentrations of the extract were respectively 5 mg/ml, 10 mg/ml and 15 mg/ml. At the 45th day, the rats were sacrificed and the morphological and molecular biological changes of the prostate specimens were observed to determine the effective concentration of RPG for a successful model.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The expression of inflammation genes such as TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, IL-2 and iNOS obviously increased in the high-dosage model group; LM, EM and in situ hybridization revealed appearant chronic inflammation response, but this was not the case in the other two dosage groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>15 mg/ml RPG mixed with FCA (1:1) 1.0 ml SC with Pertussis-Diphtheria-Tetanus vaccine 0.5 ml i.p. was an effective dosage for the successful model in our experiment.</p>