A model for studies on the response of the ventral prostate to oestrogens

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Abstract
The effects of estrogen administration on the weight of ventral and dorsolateral prostates were studied in castrated rats of Wistar-Furth and Copenhagen strains. Direct effect of estradiol (E2) on prostatic tissue was also investigated in organ culture. E2-treated animals received daily injections of 50 .mu.g for 7 days. Control animals were treated with the vehicle only (peanut oil). In 4 mo. old Copenhagen rats the mean weight of the ventral prostates (42.4 .+-. 9.4 mg/100 g body wt) was significantly higher than that in the control animals (19.9 .+-. 4.6 mg/100 g body wt, P < 0.0001). No such differences were observed in older Copenhagen rats (9 mo. old) or Wistar-Furth rats (3 and 6 mo. old). Thus, this effect of E2 on ventral prostate seems both strain specific and age specific. Similar strain and age differences in the E2 effect were found in the dorsolateral prostate, but to a smaller extent. Direct interaction of E2 with target tissue was demonstrated in culture as evidenced by the ability of the steroid to prevent regression in explants derived from prostates of Copenhagen rats. The in vivo effects of E2 on the prostate weights could not be explained by differences in specific androgen or estrogen receptor contents or in testosterone (T) metabolism. The prostates of younger Copenhagen rats differed from those of all other groups in 3 respects: they contained high levels of estramustine binding protein (EBP), they had the highest amount of uptake of radioactivity into the nuclear residue, and their histological picture was characterized by diffuse stromal architecture having the appearance of edematous tissue.

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