The present study investigated the influence of castration performed at neonatal age on neuronal elements in the anterior pelvic ganglion of the male pig with immunohistochemistry and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). The ganglia were examined 3 and 6 months after surgery. In 3-month-old castrated pigs (3MCP) 74% of adrenergic and 31% of cholinergic neurons stained for caspase-3 (CASP-3), and much greater numbers of perikarya than in the control animals expressed CGRP, galanin (GAL) and VIP (peptides known to have neuroprotective properties). In 6-months-old castrated pigs (6MCP), an excessive loss (90%) of neurons and intraganglionic nerve fibres was found. The survived adrenergic and cholinergic neurons also expressed CASP-3, CGRP, GAL or VIP. The qPCR results corresponded with immunofluorescence findings. In 3MCP, genes for CASP-3 and CGRP were up-regulated, while the expression of those for DβH, VAChT, GAL, VIP and SP displayed statistically insignificant variations. In 6MCP, distinctly up-regulated were genes for CGRP, GAL, VIP, SP, DβH and VAChT, while the expression of casp3 gene was down-regulated. The study revealed for the first time the excessive loss of pelvic neurons following castration, and a realistic assumption is proposed, that the neurons died due to apoptosis triggered by androgen deprivation.

中文翻译：

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去势对雄性猪骨盆神经元的影响。

本研究通过免疫组织化学和定量实时PCR（qPCR）研究了investigated割对新生猪骨盆前神经节中神经元元素的影响。术后3个月和6个月检查神经节。在3个月大的cast割猪（3MCP）中，有74％的肾上腺素能神经元和31％的胆碱能神经元被caspase-3（CASP-3）染色，并且比对照组动物表达CGRP，甘丙肽（GAL）多得多和VIP（已知具有神经保护特性的肽）。在6个月大的cast割猪（6MCP）中，发现神经元和神经节内神经纤维过度流失（90％）。存活的肾上腺素能和胆碱能神经元也表达了CASP-3，CGRP，GAL或VIP。qPCR结果与免疫荧光结果相对应。在3MCP中，CASP-3和CGRP的基因上调，而DβH，VAChT，GAL，VIP和SP的基因表达在统计学上无统计学意义。在6MCP中，CGRP，GAL，VIP，SP，DβH和VAChT的基因明显上调，而casp3基因的表达下调。该研究首次揭示了去势后骨盆神经元的过度损失，并提出了一个现实的假设，即神经元是由于雄激素剥夺触发的细胞凋亡而死亡的。