Effects of moderate spinal cord injury on the expression of a barrier marker in endothelial cells of the testis and in the prostate of rats

Abstract

It was recently shown that the endothelial barrier antigen (EBA), previously thought to be specific to endothelial cells in the central nervous system, was also present in endothelial cells in the testis and in epithelial cells in the dorsolateral prostate of adult rats.1 In the present study, we examined the effect of moderate spinal cord injury (SCI), produced by compression for 5 min of the cord at T 10/11. There was a slight reduction in EBA in the testis and prostate 24 h after SCI, and this became more obvious after 3 days. EBA was completely absent from the prostate and testis at 1 week. By 2 and 4 weeks some expression of EBA returned, and at these times EBA was also detected in the ventral prostate. Brain endothelial cells remained positive throughout. We cannot yet say whether these changes are due directly to interference with the nerve supply, or involve changes in androgen status.