THE EFFECTS OF CASTRATION AND ANDROGEN REPLACEMENT ON THE NUCLEIC ACID COMPOSITION, METABOLISM, AND ENZYMATIC CAPACITIES OF THE RAT VENTRAL PROSTATE

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Abstract
The pentose nucleic acid/desoxyribose nucleic acid ratio for normal rat ventral prostate tissue of approximately 2.4 is lowered to 0.9 or less following castration or stilbestrol administration, while testosterone replacement returns the ratio to the "normal" value. QO2 of prostates from 6-15 weeks castrates is about 1/5 that of the "normal" value and the RQ falls from 0.9 to 0.4. Testosterone treatment reestablishes the "normal" QO2 and RQ values. Zymohexase concentration of castrate tissue is lowered to 5-10% that of "normal," while the a-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase concentration doubles. The concentrations of both enzymes in prostrates of 20-day-old immature rats are similar to those of normal adults rather than of castrates. By injecting increasing amounts of testosterone in 4-week castrate mature rats and measuring the zymohexase activity of the prostate tissue after 72 hours treatment, a definite threshold is demonstrated below which the activity is at the castrate level and above which there is a 20-fold increase in zymohexase activity. The acid phosphatase activity of the prostate tissue per gram wet weight falls in the range of 8-10 King-Armstrong units and is not affected by age of rat, castration or by testosterone or stilbestrol administration.