Rats were treated with terazosin (0.12, 1.2mg/kg orally every second day) for 120 d. GAGs were isolated and purified from ventral prostate homogenates by lipid extraction, ethanol precipitation, and extensive digestion with pronase and DNAse, separated by electrophoresis, and characterised using specific enzymes. The activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was estimated using gelatin zymography and TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Terazosin treatment did not affect the weight of the ventral prostate gland. The prostate contains hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulfate (CS), dermatan sulfate (DS), and heparan sulfate (HS), MMP-2, TIMP-1, and TIMP-2, but not MMP-9. Terazosin caused a significant increase in the relative content of DS and a significant decrease in the relative content of CS and to a lesser extent of HS. Terazosin evoked a significant increase in the activity of proMMP-2 and MMP-2 but did not affect TIMP.

The differential effect of terazosin treatment in GAG molecules of the rat prostate may be beneficial because CS is known to induce and DS to inhibit cell proliferation. The effect of terazosin on GAGs and MMP-2 may contribute in the molecular mechanisms of terazosin-induced apoptosis because HS and CS have a proapoptotic effect, whereas DS and MMP-2 are antiapoptotic.

Dionisios Mitropoulos^a, Eleni Papakonstantinou^b, Alexios J. Aletras^c, Nikolaos Kalinderis^d, Anastasios Zervas^a, Dimitrios Hatzichristou^d, George Karakiulakis<sup>b

a</sup> 1st Department of Urology, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece
^b Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
^c Laboratory of Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, Patras, Greece
^d 2nd Department of Urology, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Accepted 16 June 2006 published online 7 July 2006.