TESTOSTERONE-METABOLISM IN PRIMARY CULTURES OF EPITHELIAL-CELLS AND STROMA FROM BENIGN PROSTATIC HYPERPLASIA

We studied the metabolism of testosterone in primary cultures of prost ate epithelial cells and fibroblasts obtained from patients with benig n prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The conversion of H-3-testosterone in b oth cell cultures was predominantly to the oxidative pathway, with the formation of H-3-androstenedione increasing with cell number and time of incubation. Although we also detected some 5 alpha-reductase activ ity in these cells, the activity in the stroma component (0.00688 pmol /mg protein/min) was nonetheless insignificant when compared to the 5 alpha-reductase activity in the tissue of origin (0.0616 pmol/mg prote in/min) and well below the 17 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activi ty of the same cells (0.0518 pmol/mg protein/min). The aromatase activ ity in our cells was also measured by two separate techniques, but nei ther the deuterium procedure nor the production of oestrone from andro gen precursors yielded any positive results, suggesting that under the se experimental conditions there was no aromatase activity within the cells. The shift from the reductive to the oxidative pathways in these primary cell cultures was reminiscent of the androgen-metabolizing en zyme profiles seen in poorly differentiated prostate cancer. Whether t his transition is an obligatory step in the development of hormone ref ractiveness remains to be elucidated.