Figure 5.

Androgens modulate neutrophil phenotype. Rats were orchidectomized (OX) and treated with testosterone 2 mg/kg/day (T) before being inoculated with 1 mg of LPS intraprostatically for 24 h (A, C, D, F). To elicit peritoneal neutrophils, a single i.p. injection of LPS 1 mg/kg was applied (B, E). (A) Myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in prostatic tissue is impaired in testosterone-treated animals, referred per mg of proteins (left) as well as per g of tissue (right). (B) Peritoneal neutrophils also show a decrease in MPO activity in animals treated with T. Data are mean ± SEM, from n = 4 per group. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01. (C) The mRNA expression for MPO show no changes between groups. (D) Cytokine profiling of Gr (+)-sorted prostatic neutrophils by qPCR, depicting that cells from testosterone-treated animals express high levels of anti-inflammatory TGFβ and IL10, while pro-inflammatory cytokines are reduced. (E) Peritoneal neutrophils from testosterone-treated rats also have an anti-inflammatory/ immunomodulatory/“N2-like” phenotype, compatible to that reported by Fridlender et al. (9) and characterized by high expression of TGFβ and IL10 along with low levels of IL1b, IL12p40, and TNFα. ACTB was used as reference mRNA. Mean ± SEM, each dot represents one animal. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01. (F) Representative images of prostatic neutrophils showing cellular edema and vacuolization in testosterone-treated animals. Bar = 5 μm.