The role of prolactin in the prostatic inflammatory response to neonatal estrogen.

Estrogen exposure in the neonatal rat has been shown to disrupt the normal morphology and development of the prostate gland. The response to this exposure is manifest in adulthood as epithelial dysplasia and chronic inflammation. This inflammatory response consists of infiltrating T-lymphocytes and macrophages, which is typically observed in chronic prostatitis in both rodents and humans.