LANGUR PROSTATE AND ITS HORMONAL MODULATION

The normal histoarchitecture of langur prostate of different growth ph ases, viz.,juvenile, sub-adult, and adult, and the hormonal modulation of adult prostate were studied in order to explore its suitability of a surrogate for human prostate. The histological observations reveale d that the langur prostate is histoarchitecturally homogeneous. The vo lumetric composition of stroma (%) was found to be decreased significa ntly from juvenile to adult and that of epithelium and lumen was found to be increased significantly. The absolute volume (c.c.) of stroma, epithelium, and lumen increased significantly from juvenile to adult. A marked depletion in the various prostatic fluid biochemical paramete rs was observed in castration groups, which were recovered to control level following testosterone enanthate administration. The castration induced significant increase in volumetric composition of stroma; conv ersely that of the epithelium and lumen decreased significantly. The a bsolute volume of stroma did not show any appreciable variation, while that of epithelium and lumen decreased significantly. The inter acina r stroma decreased from juvenile to adult, while the lumen diameter in creased significantly from juvenile to adult. Castration increased the inter acinar and lumen diameter; conversely the epithelial height dec reased. The testosterone supplementation restored the prostate. Howeve r, the volumetric composition of stroma remained high, while the lumin al volume remained low. Various prostatic parameters in normal and und er altered hormonal conditions suggest that the langur prostate is sim ilar to the human and therefore could be used as surrogate for the hum an prostate.