Long-term aspirin administration suppresses inflammation in diabetic cystopathy

Diabetic cystopathy (DCP) is one of the most common and troublesome urologic complications of diabetes mellitus, characterized by chronic low-grade inflammatory response. However, the correlation between inflammation and disease progression remains ambiguous and effective drugs interventions remain deficient. Herein, during 12-week study, 48 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to four groups: negative control (NC), NC treated with aspirin (NC+Aspirin), DCP, and DCP treated with aspirin (DCP+Aspirin). Type 1 diabetes mellitus was established by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (65 mg/kg). After 2 weeks modeling, the rats in treatment groups received daily oral aspirin (100 mg/kg/d). After 10 weeks of treatment, aspirin ameliorated pathological weight loss and bladder weight increase in diabetic rats, accompanied by a 16.5% decrease in blood glucose concentrations. H&E, Masson, immunohistochemistry and transmission electron microscopy revealed that a dilated bladder with thickened detrusor smooth muscle (DSM) layer, inflammatory infiltration, fibrosis and ultrastructural damage were observed in diabetic rats, which were obviously ameliorated by aspirin. The dynamic investigations at 4, 7 and 10 weeks revealed inflammation gradually increased as the disease progresses. After 10 weeks of treatment, the expression of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and NF-κB has been decreased to 78%, 39.7%, 44.1%, 33.3% at mRNA level and 67.6%, 76.7%, 71.4%, 67.1% at protein level, respectively (DCP+Aspirin vs. DCP, p < 0.01). Aspirin partially restored the increased expression of inflammatory mediators in bladder DSM of diabetic rats. The study provided insight into long-term medication therapies, indicating that aspirin might serve as a potential strategy for DCP treatment.