Freeze-fracture observations on the membranes and junctions in human prostatic carcinoma and benign prostatic hypertrophy.

In human prostatic carcinomatous acini, the columnar cells possessed a loosely organized meshwork of ridges and grooves and many isolated, short, and disorganized strands of tight junctions, unlike those of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH), where the tight junctional ridges and grooves were numerous and compact. Desmosomes were more irregular in size, shape and distribution in cancerous cells than in BPH. Our observation indicated that the junctional complexes were altered and defective in cancerous cells and probably facilitated migration of some acinar cells into the stroma. In addition, we have also shown that the membranes including the intramembranous particles of Golgi complexes, mitochondria, secretory granules and vacuoles, lipofuscin granules and nuclei, were essentially similar in cancerous and BPH columar cells.