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The activities of 5 alpha-reductase and 3 alpha (beta)-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase were assayed in homogenates of eight normal, 21 hyperplastic and four carcinomatous human prostates. Samples consisting of 300--500 microgram tissue protein in Tris buffer, pH 7.0, were incubated at 37 degrees C for 30 min in the presence of 50 nM-3Handrogen and an NADPH-generating system started with 5 X 10(-4)M-NADP. The yield of 5 alpha- and 3 alpha-reduced metabolites, as established by using t.l.c. and g.l.c., gave an estimate of enzyme activity. The formation of metabolites denoting 5 alpha-reductase activity in normal, hyperplastic and carcinomatous tissue respectively was 28.8 +/- 47 (S.E.M.), 76.8 +/- 8.9 and 3.5 +/- 0.7 pmol 30 min-1 mg protein-1; similarly, that denoting 3 alpha (beta)-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity was 69.3 +/- 6.7, 46.6 +/- 5.7 and 38.8 +/- 22.1 pmol 30 min-1 mg protein-1. In all normal prostates 5 alpha-reductase activity was lower than 3 alpha (beta)-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity. Conversely, in 18 out of 21 hyperplastic prostates, 5 alpha-reductase activity was higher than 3 alpha (beta)-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity. The effect of the increase in 5 alpha-reductase activity without a compensatory change in 3 alpha (beta)-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity was to alter the mean ratio between 5 alpha-reductase and 3 alpha (beta)-hydroxysteriod dehydrogenase activities from 0.47 +/- 0.11 in the normal prostate to 1.84 +/- 0,19 in hyperplastic tissue. It is inferred that this change may predispose the hyperplastic prostate to asymmetrical rates of androgen metabolism and thereby contribute to the abnormal accumulation of dihydrotestosterone.
Bruchovsky et al. (Thu,) studied this question.