Comparative C₁₉-Radiosteroid Metabolism in Primary Monolayer Cultures of Epithelial Cells and Fibroblasts from Rat Ventral Prostate, Canine Prostate, and Rat Lung

¹ Steroid Biochemistry Laboratory, Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, Departments of Surgery (Division of Urology) and Anatomy, Tufts University School of Medicine, and Laboratory of Toxicology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts

Stromal-epithelial cell interactions may be important for the regulation of normal and abnormal prostatic growth. While androgen transformation by rat ventral prostate and canine prostate has been investigated in vivo and in organ culture, little is known about metabolic pathways in cultures of epithelial cells and fibroblasts. Metabolism of radioisotope-labeled 17-hydroxy C₁₉-steroids was studied in primary cultures of highly-enriched rat ventral prostate and canine prostate epithelial cells and fibroblasts isolated by selectiveattachment procedures. The fibroblasts contained little testosterone 5-reductase in contrast to high activity in epithelial cells. We found high levels of 5-androstane-3,17-diol (3-diol) dehydrogenase and the terminal 5-androstane-3,17-diol (3-diol) hydroxylases in both cell types; 3-diol was a more effective precursor of 5-dihydrotestosterone than was testosterone. For prostatic fibroblasts these pathways seem to be differentiated functions, since rat-lung fibroblasts converted 3-diol to 5-dihydrotestosterone and 3diol. We conclude that epithelial cells and fibroblasts make interactive contributions to prostatic androgen metabolism.

     Key words: rat ventral prostate, canine prostate, epithelial cells, fibroblasts, primary cell culture, testosterone 5-reductase, 3-hydroxysteroid oxidoreductase, 3-hydroxy 5-C₁₉-steroid hydroxylases

Submitted on September 3, 1981
Revised on November 30, 1981
Accepted on January 20, 1982