associated with aging. Thus, the question arises whether or not a
correlation exists between the well known prostatic androgen and
estrogen accumulation and aging. To address this question, we measured
5a-dihydrotestosterone (DHT), testosterone, estradiol, and estrone
in epithelium and stroma of six normal (NPR) and 19 BPH and
correlated the values with the age of the donors (26-87 yr). The mean
DHT level in NPR epithelium was significantly higher than in NPR
stroma, and also significantly higher than in epithelium and stroma of
BPH. The epithelial DHT level of NPR and BPH decreased with age,
the correlation being statistically significant. The stromal DHT level
of NPR and BPH showed no correlation with age. Concerning testosterone,
generally rather low values were found which showed no correlation
with age. The mean levels of estradiol and estrone were
significantly higher in BPH stroma as compared to BPH epithelium
as well as to NPR epithelium and stroma. In NPR, the mean levels of
estradiol and estrone were significantly higher in epithelium than
stroma. In NPR and BPH, the stromal estradiol and estrone levels
increased significantly with age. In epithelium such a correlation between
the estrogen levels and age was not found. Our results indicate
that the prostatic accumulation of DHT, estradiol, and estrone is in
part intimately correlated with aging, leading with increasing age to a
dramatic increase of the estrogen/androgen ratio particularly in stroma
of BPH.
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