Abstract

Purpose
Chronic nonbacterial prostatitis and chronic pelvic pain syndrome account for 90-95% of all prostatitis. Little is known about its pathophysiology, thus, various treatments are used. Ecklonia cava, a seaweed, is a member of the brown algae family; many recent reports have demonstrated that its extract containing phlorotannin has anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties. Using the hormone-induced prostatitis rat model, we investigated the anti-inflammatory effects of E. cava extracts via its anti-oxidative process on chronic nonbacterial prostatitis. Materials and Methods: Forty, 10-week-old male white Wistar rats were utilized, and divided equally into the following five groups: 1) control, 2) E. cava-fed, 3) hormone-induced prostatitis (HIP), 4) E. cava-treated HIP, and 5) nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-treated HIP. Results: The results showed statistically-significant improvement in the tissue response to the hormone-induced inflammation among the E. cava-treated and NSAID-treated groups (p＜0.05). Lower malonedialdehyde levels were observed in the group with E. cava-treated HIP than with HIP alone, which was statistically significant. We believe that this supports the anti-oxidative properties of E. cava. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that phlorotannin has anti-inflammatory properties via its anti-oxidative process, which we expect to play an important role in prevention and as an adjuvant therapy for chronic nonbacterial prostatitis.

• Keywords: Prostatitis; Estrogens; Anti-inflammatory agents