[Effect of age on the amount of autonomic receptors in the rabbit prostate homogenate].

The amount of autonomic receptors in the old and young rabbit prostate homogenate was measured in order to study the effect of age on the autonomic receptors of the prostate using radioligand binding techniques. For measuring the adrenergic alpha-1, alpha-2, beta-receptors and cholinergic muscarinic receptors, 3H-Prazosin (3H-PZ), 3H-Yohimbine (3H-YOH), 3H-Quinuclidinylbenzilate (3H-QNB) were used, respectively. It was found that both the young and old rabbit prostate has a single class of binding sites for each ligand examined. There was an age-related difference in the distribution of these autonomic receptors (young: alpha 1 = muscarinic greater than alpha 2 greater than beta, old: alpha 1 greater than muscarinic greater than alpha 2 greater than beta). There were more alpha-1 and alpha-2 receptors in the old rabbit prostate, although these differences were not statistically significant. There was no age-related differences in the amount of beta adrenergic and muscarinic receptors. These results demonstrate that the age may affect the distribution of autonomic receptors but not significantly the amount of autonomic receptors of rabbit prostate.