Irreversible androgen induced growth in seminal vesicle smooth muscle.

The dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-sustained normal pubertal development of the guinea pig seminal vesicle epithelium proved to be highly reversible in that 4 weeks after cessation of hormone treatment there were significant reductions in epithelial wet weight, DNA content, and collagen content. In contrast, the DHT-induced prepubertal development of smooth muscle DNA and collagen contents were not significantly reduced following hormone withdrawal. In adult animals treated daily with DHT for 4 weeks, there was an increase in collagen content of approx 80% above either castrate or normal controls, which also proved to be irreversible. These findings indicate that the autophagic mechanisms, which are activated upon withdrawal of the androgenic stimulus and serve to degrade epithelial cells and the associated collagenous matrices, are not operant in the smooth muscle of the organ.