Fig. 1

a Cytokine expression was elevated in prostate tissue harvested from prostatic inflammation group relative to sham. Relative to other cytokines, expression of IL-18 was quantitatively higher and also significantly relative to the expression of IL-18 in sham prostate. There was significant upregulation of IL-1α,IL-1β, IL-5, IL-17A, leptin, NGF, VEGF, CXC and CC chemokines (*p < 0.05, unpaired t test) in formalin injected prostate, while expression of BDNF, IFNγ, G-CSF, IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-13, TNFα remained unchanged between the groups. b Overall, expression of cytokines in bladder was lower relative to prostate (same y-axis scale). Bladder from sham group showed significantly lower expression of IFNγ, CXCL-2, CXCL-10, CCL5, IL-5 and IL-17A compared to the group injected with formalin (*p < 0.05, unpaired t test)