Supplementation is a strategy to potentiate physical training through hypertrophy of skeletal muscles, but other tissues such as the prostate may also be affected. Changes in prostate size and function are associated with the behavior of individuals, but evidence for an association with supplementation is scarce. Therefore, the aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of b-hydroxy b-methylbutyrate (HMB) supplementation and concurrent training on the prostate. Wistar rats were divided randomly into four groups with 10 animals each: control group (C), supplemented group (S), training group (T), and supplemented plus training group (TS). The supplemented groups (S and TS) received 76 mg·kg/day of HMB and the concurrent training groups (T and TS) performed exercise three times per week for eight weeks. HMB increased body composition, total weight of the prostate, and altered the histology of prostatic compartments. The lateral prostate of animals in the supplemented group had an increase in mast cells per mm2 (28.0 ± 3.9) compared to the control and exercise group (6.1 ± 3.0; 2.3 ± 0.9) There was also an increase in inflammation in the stroma and lumen of the prostate, and increased expression of androgen receptor (AR) in the supplemented and trained supplemented group (79.8 ± 2.1; 76.8 ± 11.4) in relation to the trained group (61.5 ± 7.0). We concluded that HMB alters hormone receptors that induce morphological changes and inflammation, and animals in the concurrent training group had normal inflammatory and hormonal profiles, and favorable prostatic histology.

KEYS WORDS: Supplementation; Concurrent training; HMB; Prostate; Androgen receptor.