NEUROENDOCRINE CELLS IN PERIPHERAL PROSTATIC ZONE - AGE, PROSTATIC INTRAEPITHELIAL NEOPLASIA AND LATENT CANCER-RELATED CHANGES

The neuroendocrine cells (NCs) in the peripheral prostatic zone of 32 patients without prostatic symptoms and with an average age of 61.4 +/ - 6.7 (range 48-75) years were studied, and it was found that most are closed-type cells (95.8%) and that there is a gradual fall both in th eir total number and the number per square millimeter (p = 0.03) with advancing age. There were microscopic foci of high-grade prostatic int raepithelial neoplasia (PIN) in 59.3% of the patients and occult carci nomas in 28.1%, but no statistical relationship was found between thes e lesions and the number of NCs (p = 0.35 and p = 0.9, respectively). The gradual increase in NCs in the peripheral zone of normal prostates as of adolescence, reported in the literature, would appear to suppor t a possible androgenic action on these cells. Our finding of a decrea se in patients with foci of PIN and carcinoma from the fifth decade su ggests that this decrease in NCs may make the prostate more susceptibl e to carcinogenic factors.