Effect of Pumpkin Seed (Cucurbita pepo L.) Diets on Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH): Chemical and Morphometric Evaluation in Rats

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common disease in elderly men. Although it is a nonmalignant disease, it can have a significant impact on the quality of life of elderly men. The pumpkin seed is claimed to be useful in the management of BPH. This investigation analysed the chemical composition of pumpkin seeds and examined its effect on citral-induced hyperplasia of the prostate in Wistar rats. Citral was administered orally into stomachs of male rats to induce BPH to all rats except negative control group. A rat from each group was sacrificed after 15 days from study, protein binding prostate was determined in ventral prostate gland in order to ensure that BPH has been induced. Fifty adult Wistar male rats were divided into five groups as follows: negative control group that have no BPH and fed on basal diet (C-), positive group rats have BPH and fed on basal diet only (C+), the remaining groups had BPH and were fed on different level of pumpkin seeds, 2.5, 5 and 10%. Four weeks later all rats were sacrificed and several investigations have been conducted such as ventral prostatic growth, protein binding prostate (PBP) and the histology of testis. Citral significantly increased prostate weight (P<0.05). However, pumpkin seeds significantly inhibited enlarged prostate especially at high concentrations seed dose (10%) (P < 0.02). Results indicate that pumpkin seeds can alleviate the signs of BPH such as decrease of PBP levels, weight of ventral prostate size, improve histology of testis that may be beneficial in the management of mild stage of benign prostatic hyperplasia. For the first time we found a link between BPH and testis histopathology that needs more investigation.