Early Effects of Castration and Replacement of Androgen on the Expression of Retrovirus-like Particles in Rat Ventral Prostate Epithelial Cells

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Abstract
The presence of C-type retrovirus-like particles in normal prostate epithelial cells from Sprague-Dawley rats was perviously demonstrated. Attempts to alter retrovirus-like particle expression by castration and replacement of androgen, i.e., testosterone propionate (TP), are reported. The frequency of C-type viral-like particle expression in the ventral prostates from the following groups of animals was estimated by a semiquantitative EM assay: normal rats, normal that received TP for 3 days, rats 3 or 6 days after castration and rats that received TP for 3 days, beginning 3 or 6 days after castration, to induce cellular hypertrophy or hyperplasia, respectively. Three or 6 days following castration, the frequency of C-type particle expression in the regressed ventral prostates was markedly reduced. Typical C-type viral-like particle morphology was retained for those few particles detected. Prostates with hypertrophic epithelium from rats treated with TP starting 3 days after castration exhibited moderate to high frequencies of expression of both immature and mature, and aberrant C-type-like particles. Prostates with hyperplastic epithelium from rats treated with TP starting 6 days after castration had a wide range expression frequencies comparable to that of the normal, intact control group. Prostates from TP-treated normal intact rats exhibited low to moderate frequencies of C-type particle expression and showed no major change in the morphological pattern of virus-like particle expression. Androgens apparently are, at the very least, permissive for the expression of the retrovirus-like particles by rat ventral prostate epithelial cells, and major de novo DNA synthesis and cellular replication are probably not essential for the increased release the virus-like particles observed after short-term castration and replacement of androgen.