Fig. 4.

Effects of P. gingivalis and P. gingivalis LPS on cell proliferation and apoptosis of prostates. a Representative image and quantitative analysis histograms of Ki67 immunohistochemical staining for ventral prostates in control, P.g-BPH, LPS and T-BPH groups (original magnification ×200). b Representative images of TUNEL staining and apoptosis rate (%) histogram of TUNEL positive cells for ventral prostates in control, P.g-BPH, LPS and T-BPH groups (original magnification ×200). c Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting the serum levels of testosterone, E₂, and PSA. Data are expressed as mean ± SD. ^*P < 0.05, ^**P < 0.01, ^***P < 0.001. LPS-BPH Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide induced BPH group, P.g-BPH Porphyromonas gingivalis induced BPH group, T-BPH Testosterone-induced BPH group, TUNEL terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling, E₂ estradiol, PSA prostate-specific antigen