In young male rats, giving kisspeptin-10 twice a day for 12 days caused the prostate to shrink and showed clear signs of cell damage, especially at higher doses. The hormone didn't speed up puberty; instead it hurt the prostate tissue.

Kisspeptin peptides mediate their actions through the GnRH loop system. How kisspeptins affect prostate gland in prepubertal male mammals remains elusive. To address this kisspeptin was administered as subchronic (12 days) twice daily i.p. dose at three different dosage regimens: 10 pg, 1 ng and 1 µg, to prepubertal male Sprague-Dawley rats (PND 35). Control rats were maintained in parallel. At the end of the experiment prostate gland was dissected out and processed for light and electron microscopy. DNA damage was also estimated by DNA ladder assay and DNA fragmentation assay. Prostate weights decreased significantly (P < 0.05) at 1 µg treatment dose of kisspeptin. The epithelial height of secretory acini of prostate decreased at 10 pg (P < 0.05), 1 ng, and 1 µg doses (P < 0.001). Histomorphology and ultrastructure demonstrated, decrease in epithelial cell height, epithelial folding and dilatation of the organelles with kisspeptin treatment. Percent DNA damage to the prostatic tissue was 20.74 ± 2.18, 43.60 ± 2.39, and 58.18 ± 2.59 at 10 pg, 1 ng and 1 µg doses, respectively. The study reveals that continuous administration of kisspeptin does not lead to an early maturation but instead severe degeneration of prepubertal prostate gland. Wiley Periodicals, Inc.