Quantification of neural and hormonal receptors at the prostate of long-term sexual behaving male rats after lesion of pelvic and hypogastric nerves.

Prostate function is regulated by androgens and a neural control via the pelvic and hypogastric nerves. As such, this sexual gland contains receptors for acetylcholine and noradrenaline, although it is unknown whether the expression of these receptors is affected by sexual behavior and even less by denervation of the gland. Thus, the purpose of this work was to evaluate the effect of repeated sexual behavior on the expression of noradrenaline, acetylcholine, and androgen receptors at the prostate, and how they are affected by denervation. To achieve this, we used sexually experienced males denervated at the pelvic or hypogastric nerves, or both. The messenger (mRNA) and protein for androgen, noradrenergic, and cholinergic receptors were evaluated. The weight of the gland and the levels of serum testosterone were also measured. We found that: (1) sexual behavior was not affected by denervation; (2) blood testosterone levels increased due to sexual behavior but such increase is prevented by denervation; (3) the weight of the ventral prostate increased with sexual behavior but was not affected by denervation; (4) AR messenger levels increased with sexual behavior but were not altered by denervation; (5) the messenger for noradrenergic and cholinergic receptors decreased after denervation, and those for muscarinic receptors increased, and (6) only AR protein decreased after denervation of both nerves, while those for other receptors remained unchanged. In summary, we show that the three receptors have different regulatory mechanisms, and that only androgen receptors are regulated by both autonomic systems.