Organ Culture of Benign Nodular Hyperplasia of Human Prostate in Chemically-Defined Medium

Abstract

Explants of hyperplastic prostatic tissue from 27 men aged 55 to 85 years were maintained in organ culture in a chemically-defined medium (Trowell T8) for periods ranging from 2 to 12 days. The histological features of benign nodular hyperplasia were regularly preserved during culture periods of up to 6 days in vitro. The fibromuscular stroma survived less well than the acinar epithelium. Explants were often covered by cuboidal or fusiform cells (edge cells) which were frequently continuous with the epithelium of acini trans-sected at the explant surface. Colcemid studies revealed multiple arrested mitotic figures in the hyperplastic glandular epithelium from one of four prostates, whereas mitotic figures were never seen in tissues cultured in unsupplemented T8 medium. DNA-synthesis in acinar epithelium and edge cells, shown autoradiographically by the incorporation of ³H-thymidine into cell nuclei, was regularly present in explants cultured for 4 days. The incorporation of ³H-uridine was demonstrable in acinar epithelium as well as stromal cells after 6 days in vitro. In the present short-term experiments, the glandular epithelium retained the histological features of benign prostatic hyperplasia and the ability to synthetise DNA and RNA despite diffuse degeneration of the fibromuscular stroma. The organ culture technique with chemically-defined medium should have considerable value for the study of the diseased human prostate and its responses to defined external influences.