Langur prostate and its hormonal modulation.

The normal histoarchitecture of langur prostate of different growth phases, viz., juvenile, sub-adult, and adult, and the hormonal modulation of adult prostate were studied in order to explore its suitability of a surrogate for human prostate. The histological observations revealed that the langur prostate is histoarchitecturally homogeneous. The volumetric composition of stroma (%) was found to be decreased significantly from juvenile to adult and that of epithelium and lumen was found to be increased significantly. The absolute volume (c.c.) of stroma, epithelium, and lumen increased significantly from juvenile to adult. A marked depletion in the various prostatic fluid biochemical parameters was observed in castration groups, which were recovered to control level following testosterone enanthate administration. The castration induced significant increase in volumetric composition of stroma; conversely that of the epithelium and lumen decreased significantly. The absolute volume of stroma did not show any appreciable variation, while that of epithelium and lumen decreased significantly. The inter acinar stroma decreased from juvenile to adult, while the lumen diameter increased significantly from juvenile to adult. Castration increased the inter acinar and lumen diameter; conversely the epithelial height decreased. The testosterone supplementation restored the prostate. However, the volumetric composition of stroma remained high, while the luminal volume remained low. Various prostatic parameters in normal and under altered hormonal conditions suggest that the langur prostate is similar to the human and therefore could be used as surrogate for the human prostate.