Fluctuations in prostatic glycosaminoglycans during fetal and pubertal growth.

Mesenchymal glycosaminoglycans have been shown to fluctuate during the development of various organs. Prostatic development is an interesting example of organogenesis as it is only at puberty, under androgen influence, that differentiation is completed. We have extracted and quantitated the glycosaminoglycans of human prostates obtained from fetuses, prepubertal, and adult males to determine the changes that occur during prostatic differentiation. The total glycosaminoglycan content per prostate followed the wet weight growth curve. The percentages of heparan sulfate and heparan sulfate sulfation seemed to correlate with prostatic epithelial differentiation. After 25 years of age prostatic glycosaminoglycan concentrations tend toward the glycosaminoglycan ratios typical of benign prostatic hyperplasia.