Yuen Mong Ting. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-169). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.i / Abstract (English) --- p.ii / Abstract (Chinese) --- p.v / Contents --- p.vi / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Developmental biology of the prostate --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.1 --- Development of the prostate gland in humans and rodents --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.2 --- Mesenchymal-epithelial interaction --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2 --- Overview of the endocrinology of prostate --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Estrogen in male and prostate gland --- p.4 / Chapter 1.3.1 --- Stimulating effect of estrogen on prostate gland --- p.4 / Chapter 1.3.2 --- Inhibitory effect of estrogen on prostate gland --- p.5 / Chapter 1.4 --- Study of the role of estrogen receptors in prostate gland with the use of estrogen receptor knockout mice --- p.6 / Chapter 1.4.1 --- The two isoforms of estrogen receptors (ER): ERα and ERβ --- p.6 / Chapter 1.4.2 --- The use of estrogen receptor knockout mice for the study of ER --- p.7 / Chapter 1.5 --- Estrogen as a carcinogen --- p.8 / Chapter 1.5.1 --- Formation of DNA adducts --- p.8 / Chapter 1.5.2 --- Formation of oxidants --- p.9 / Chapter 1.5.3 --- Estrogen as a microtubule-disrupting agent --- p.10 / Chapter 1.6 --- Estrogen carcinogenicity in animal models --- p.11 / Chapter 1.6.1 --- Syrian golden hamster model --- p.11 / Chapter 1.6.2 --- Rat model --- p.12 / Chapter 1.7 --- Animal models of prostate cancer by hormonal induction --- p.12 / Chapter 1.7.1 --- Canine model --- p.13 / Chapter 1.7.2 --- Noble rat model --- p.13 / Chapter 1.7.3 --- Sprague-Dawley rat model --- p.15 / Chapter 1.7.4 --- Wistar and F344 rat model --- p.15 / Chapter 1.8 --- Perinatal estrogen exposure and prostate development --- p.16 / Chapter 1.8.1 --- Prenatal estrogen exposure --- p.15 / Chapter 1.8.2 --- Neonatal estrogen exposure --- p.17 / Chapter 1.9 --- Therapeutic use of synthetic estrogen --- p.18 / Chapter 1.9.1 --- Use of diethylstilbestrol in treating prostate cancer --- p.18 / Chapter 1.9.2 --- Use of diethylstilbestrol during pregnancy --- p.19 / Chapter 1.10 --- Estrogen contamination in food --- p.20 / Chapter 1.10.1 --- Estrogen in milk and dairy products --- p.20 / Chapter 1.10.2 --- Estrogen in meat --- p.21 / Figure 1.1 --- p.23 / Chapter Chapter 2. --- Materials and methods --- p.25 / Chapter 2.1 --- In vitro study of estrogen carcninogenicity in normal prostatic cell line --- p.25 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- NRP-152 cell line --- p.25 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- In vitro estrogen treatment on NRP-152 cells --- p.25 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Colony formation by soft agar assay --- p.27 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- Determination of growth parameters of estrogen-treated and untreated NRP-152 cells --- p.29 / Chapter 2.1.5 --- Gene expression profiling in estrogen-transformed and untreated parental NRP-152 cells by cDNA microarray --- p.30 / Chapter 2.1.6 --- Immunohistochemistry of cultured cells --- p.34 / Chapter 2.1.7 --- Immunofluorescence on cultured cells --- p.36 / Chapter 2.1.8 --- Electron microscopy of the estrogen-transformed and untreated parental NRP-152 cells --- p.37 / Chapter 2.1.9 --- Tumorigenicity in nude mice --- p.38 / Chapter 2.1.10 --- Protein expressions and Western blottings in estrogen-transformed and untreated parental NRP-152 cells --- p.39 / Chapter 2.2 --- In vivo study of estrorgen carcinogenicity in rat protstate gland --- p.41 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Origin and supply of Noble rats --- p.41 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Perinatal estrogen imprinting on male Noble rats with diethylstilbestrol --- p.42 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Long-term hormonal treatment with sex steroids on male Noble rats at adulthood --- p.43 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Morphological study of Noble rat prostates --- p.44 / Chapter 2.2.5 --- Protein expressions by immunohistochemistry in estrogen-primed and hormone-treated Noble rat prostates --- p.45 / Tables 2.1 -2.2 --- p.48 / Chapter Chapter 3. --- Results --- p.50 / Chapter 3.1 --- In vitro study --- p.50 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Dose selection for estrogen treatment of NRP-152 cells from cell proliferation assay --- p.50 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Colony formation in soft agar --- p.50 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Morphology of NRP-152 cells and the estrogen-transformed clones --- p.51 / Chapter 3.1.4 --- Study of growth parameters --- p.52 / Chapter 3.1.5 --- CDNA array analysis of differentia] gene pattern --- p.53 / Chapter 3.1.6 --- Immunohistochemistry of untreated parental and estrogen- transformed NRP-152 cells --- p.55 / Chapter 3.1.7 --- Electron microscopy --- p.58 / Chapter 3.1.8 --- Tumorigenicity of NRP-152 cells and the estrogen-transformed clones --- p.59 / Chapter 3.1.9 --- Western blottings --- p.59 / Chapter 3.2 --- In vivo study --- p.52 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Survival of male Nobel rats during perinatal and long-term hormone treatment --- p.62 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Histological studies of Noble rat prostates --- p.63 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Immunohistochemistry of the hormone-treated and control Noble rat prostates --- p.65 / Figure 3.1.1 -3.1.44 --- p.73 / Figure 3.2.1 - 3.2.50 --- p.97 / Table 3.1 -3.4 --- p.117 / Chapter Chapter 4. --- Discussions --- p.121 / Chapter 4.1 --- The study on the transformation of cells and soft agar assay --- p.121 / Chapter 4.2 --- Growth patterns of the estrogen-transformed clones --- p.123 / Chapter 4.3 --- Altered differential gene expression --- p.124 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- TUBA --- p.124 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- PTEN --- p.125 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- RAP 1A --- p.126 / Chapter 4.3.4 --- BRCA2 --- p.126 / Chapter 4.4 --- Ultrastructural study in the estrogen-transformed and untreated parental NRP-152 cells --- p.127 / Chapter 4.5 --- Neoplastic lesions induced in prostates of estrogen-imprinted and long-term combined hormone treated Noble rats --- p.129 / Chapter 4.6 --- Altered protein expressions in estrogen-transformed NRP-152 cells and estrogen-imprinted and hormone-treated Noble rat prostates --- p.132 / Chapter 4.6.1 --- Alteration in steroid hormone receptors --- p.132 / Chapter 4.6.2 --- Alternation in cytoskeleton (tubulin-α) --- p.138 / Chapter 4.6.3 --- Alternation in PTEN --- p.141 / Chapter 4.6.4 --- Alternation in Rap1 --- p.143 / Chapter 4.6.5 --- Alternation in BRCA2 --- p.145 / Chapter 4.6.6 --- "Altered in scavenger enzyme (Superoxide dismutase, SOD-1)" --- p.147 / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Summary --- p.150 / Reference --- p.155