Effects of androgens and/or prolactin on ventral prostate transplants.

When testosterone (T) or dihydrotestosterone (DHT) pellets (15 mg) were implanted into host male rats of different ages bearing ventral prostate transplants obtained from donors of varying ages, the in situ tissues generally contained more DNA than did the transplanted tissues. Hosts implanted with T, and in particular in the transplanted ventral prostate tissues, contained higher levels of DNA than in those host implanted with DHT. Neither the donor or host age (6-12 weeks) nor the duration of the transplant (6 or 12 weeks) seemed to have any demonstrable effect upon the levels of DNA in the transplant itself or in the in situ prostate. The in vitro incubations of slices of either the transplant or the host's prostate with testosterone-3H revealed that both tissues could effectively synthesize dihydrotestosterone-3H and androstanediol-3H. However, the transplanted tissues was less capable of such steroid metabolism, and overall was 1/3-1/2 as effective as the host prostate tissues in vitro. The acinar epithelial cell heights and the cellular secretory activities in the transplants were often similar to those examined from the host's in situ ventral prostate. Prolactin (50 IU/kg daily X 5) did not affect DNA levels in either the transplants or the in situ prostate, but this hormone did accelerate the formation of DHT-3H in the situ prostate in vitro.