Cernilton (cernitin pollen extract) is a plant-derived mixed pollen extract. This extract is an approved drug for chronic prostatitis and early benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) [1] in Japan, Sweden, Austria, South Korea, etc., and is recommended for BPH in the Japanese Clinical Guidelines for Male Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) and BPH (evidence level: Grade C). However, the effects of cernilton on prostate enlargement and LUTS in patients with BPH remain unclear.
Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) have demonstrated hypertension and hypertension-associated reductions in prostate and bladder blood flow, thereby developing prostatic hyperplasia in the ventral prostate and urinary frequency [2]. These abnormalities have been reported to appear around 17 weeks of age in SHRs [3]. 
In this study, we examined whether chronic cernilton administration started before development of these abnormalities can prevent changes in SHR prostate and voiding behavior.

Male SHRs were allocated at 12 weeks of age to vehicle (SHR+V, n=6) or cernilton (SHR+C, n=7) administered groups. Vehicle (1% HCO-40, 20 mL/kg/day, po) or cernilton (7,520 mg/kg/day, po) was administered once a day for 6 weeks. 
Body weight and systolic blood pressure were measured before and after 6-weeks administration. Voiding behavior was evaluated using metabolic cages (24-hour urinary frequency and voided volume). After the evaluation, under urethane anesthesia (0.8 g/kg, ip), a bladder catheter was inserted for saline infusion (12 ml/h) and bladder pressure recording. Single cystometry was performed to assess voided volume (Vv), bladder capacity (BC), post-voided residual (PVR), and voided percentage (Void%) followed by continuous cystometry to evaluate inter-contraction interval (ICI) and maximum voiding pressure (MVP). After cystometry, ventral prostate and bladder blood flow were measured using the hydrogen clearance method. Ventral prostate tissues were used for hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. Data were analyzed using Student’s t-test (p < 0.05).

Cernilton administration did not alter blood pressure in SHRs (Table 1).
In metabolic cage studies, no significant difference in 24-hour urinary frequency, voided volume per void or total urine volume was observed between SHR+V and SHR+C groups (Table 1). However, voided volume per void during the light period (5:00-19:00) was significantly increased in SHR+C compared with SHR+V (Table 1).
Single cystometry demonstrated no significant difference in Vv, PVR, BC or Void% between SHR+V and SHR+C groups (Table 2). Continuous cystometry also showed no significant difference in ICI or MVP between the groups (Table 2).
Prostatic blood flow was significantly increased in SHR+C compared with SHR+V (142.7 ± 14.4 vs 81.9 ± 9.2 mL/min/100 g, p = 0.009), and bladder blood flow was also significantly increased by cernilton (146.3 ± 2.8 vs 117.4 ± 4.6 mL/min/100 g, p = 0.001) (Fig. 1). 
HE staining revealed hyperplastic glandular morphological changes in the ventral prostate of SHR+V group, and these changes were attenuated in SHR+C group (Fig. 2).

SHRs exhibited hypertension-associated reductions in ventral prostate and bladder blood flow, together with prostatic hyperplasia and voiding abnormalities, consistent with previous reports [2]. Chronic cernilton administration increased blood flow in the prostate and bladder without affecting systemic blood pressure, suggesting a local vascular effect of cernilton in the lower urinary tract tissues. The cernilton-induced attenuation of hyperplastic glandular morphological changes indicates that improvement of tissue perfusion may contribute to suppression of prostatic structural alterations. Functional improvements were modest, suggesting that cernilton-induced structural and vascular changes may precede overt normalization of voiding parameters.

Chronic cernilton administration increases blood flow in the prostate and bladder, thereby attenuating prostatic hyperplasia in SHR. These findings suggest that cernilton may prevent prostate- and bladder-related pathological changes associated with hypertension possibly via improvement of pelvic organ blood flow.

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Continence 19S (2026) 102694
DOI: 10.1016/j.cont.2026.102694