Effect of vitamin A and methylprednisolone on canine prostate in organ culture.

Organ explants from the canine prostate with and without methylprednisolone pretreatment were cultivated for ten days in Trowell's T-8 medium or medium supplemented with testosterone and/or vitamin A. Upon termination of the experiments, explants were fixed and examined histologically. All glands from the most central section of each explant were graded according to epithelial type, and from these grades the proportion of acini with maintained columnar cells was calculated for each explant. Stromal cellular maintenance was also estimated. While a small proportion of explants from the vitamin-treated and methylprednisolone-pretreated groups showed epithelial maintenance, a combination of these treatments significantly increased such maintenance. Stromal maintenance was enhanced with methylprednisolone pretreatment but not by vitamin A. These results are in accord with the hypothesis that methylprednisolone acts to stabilize the lysosomal membrane, thus protecting tissue against the effects of ischemic shock. In protected explants vitamin A is able to maintain a columnar glandular epithelium. In a subsequent experiment a series of linoleic acid dosages was tested in the presence or absence of vitamin A. In neither case was this fatty acid of value in improving epithelial or stromal maintenance.