Effects of Artemisia judaica essential oil and ethanolic extract on experimentally-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia

Background: Recent studies have shown that the essential oil (EO) and the ethanolic extract (EE) from Artemisia judaica L., a Jordanian medicinal plant, exhibit a potent anti-angiogenic and anti-inflammatory activities. Angiogenesis and inflammation processes are known to play a role in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a disease associated with aging in men. Objectives: The present study aimed to address the effects of EO and EE on experimentally-induced BPH in rats. Materials and Methods: Four experimental groups were assigned with six rats in each group, including the corn oil vehicle as a control. The three other groups were induced to develop BPH by testosterone injection. The BPH rats were randomized into the BPH-untreated group, BPH-EO treated group (200 mg/kg/subcutaneously) and BPH-EE treated group (500 mg/kg/orally). Results: The prostate weight/body ratio and epithelial thickness showed a significant reduction in the EO and EE treated groups compared to the BPH untreated. In addition, mRNA expression levels of the proliferating marker (proliferating cell nuclear antigen), the angiogenesis marker (vascular endothelial growth factor-A) and interleukin-6; an inflammatory cytokine, were significantly down-regulated in the BPH groups that were treated with EE or EO. Conclusion: Our results indicated that in experimentally-induced BPH, EO and EE from A. judaica ameliorate BPH development by inhibiting prostatic cell proliferation, angiogenesis, and inflammation.