CHANGES IN THE COLLAGEN-METABOLISM OF PAT IENTS WITH PEYRONIES-DISEASE

The excact pathogenesis of Peyronie's Disease (PD) is still unknown. H istopathological investigations suggest, that the metabolism of the co llogenious tissue plays an important role. Therefore, we started a pro spective study in order to evaluate the metabolic situation of 11 pati ents with PD and 11 healthy controls. We measured biochemical paramete rs of penile and venous blood, which correspond to the collagen metabo lism (procollagen III [P III P], PMN-elastase [PMN-E], fibronectin [FN ], fibronectinreceptor [FN-R] und alpha-1-proteinase-inhibitor [alpha- 1-PI]). There was no difference in PMN-E, P III P, FN and FN-R in all samples. There was no difference in penile and venous blood as well. B ut we found out a highly significant lower concentration of alpha-1-PI in patients with PD (158,55 mg/dl) than in controls (214,82 mg/dl). A deficiency of alpha-1-PI can lead to a higher activity of serum prote ases, such as PMN-E. This can result in a change in collagen metabolis m by an increased synthesis of collagen type Ill, that is found in PD. This general pathophysiologic factor may be competed by an additional local alteration of the tissue.