The aim of this study was to investigate the inhibitory effect of heat-killed Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) and live E. faecalis on benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The BPH rat model was established by administering male rats with testosterone propionate (TP, 5 mg/kg, in corn oil) via subcutaneous injections daily for four weeks after castration. The rats were divided into five groups: Con, corn oil-injected (s.c.) + DW administration; BPH, TP (5 mg/kg, s.c.) + DW administration; BPH+K_EF, TP (5 mg/kg, s.c.) + heat-killed E. faecalis (7.5 × 10¹² CFU/g, 2.21 mg/kg) administration; BPH+L_EF, TP (5 mg/kg, s.c.) + live E. faecalis (1 × 10¹¹ CFU/g, 166 mg/kg) administration; BPH+Fi, TP (5 mg/kg, s.c.) + finasteride (1 mg/kg) administration. In both of BPH+K_EF and BPH+L_EF groups, the prostate weight decreased and histological changes due to TP treatment recovered to the level of the Con group. The both of groups showed regulation of androgen-signaling factors, growth factors, and apoptosis-related factors in prostate tissue. E. faecalis exhibited inhibitory effect on benign prostatic hyperplasia, and even heat-killed E. faecalis showed similar efficacy to the live cells in the BPH rat model. This is the first investigation for the effect of heat-killed and live E. faecalis on BPH, suggests that heat-killed E. faecalis might be a candidate for the food additives in various foods regardless of heat processing.

中文翻译：

---

热灭活和活的粪肠球菌可减轻良性前列腺增生动物模型中的前列腺肥大。

本研究的目的是研究热灭活粪肠球菌( E. faecalis ) 和活粪肠球菌对良性前列腺增生 (BPH)的抑制作用。BPH 大鼠模型是通过给雄性大鼠在阉割后每天皮下注射丙酸睾酮（TP，5 mg/kg，在玉米油中）持续 4 周来建立的。大鼠分为五组：Con，玉米油注射（sc）+ DW 给药；BPH、TP（5 mg/kg，sc）+ DW 给药；BPH+K_EF, TP (5 mg/kg, sc) + 热灭活粪肠球菌(7.5 × 10 ¹² CFU/g, 2.21 mg/kg) 给药；BPH+L_EF, TP (5 mg/kg, sc) + 活粪肠球菌(1 × 10 ¹¹CFU/g, 166 mg/kg) 给药；BPH+Fi、TP（5 mg/kg，sc）+非那雄胺（1 mg/kg）给药。在BPH+K_EF和BPH+L_EF组中，TP治疗引起的前列腺重量下降和组织学变化恢复到Con组的水平。两组均显示前列腺组织中雄激素信号因子、生长因子和凋亡相关因子的调节。粪肠球菌对良性前列腺增生具有抑制作用，甚至热灭活的粪肠球菌在 BPH 大鼠模型中也显示出与活细胞相似的功效。这是关于热灭活和活粪肠球菌对 BPH影响的首次调查，表明热灭活粪肠球菌无论热处理如何，它都可能是各种食品中食品添加剂的候选者。