The growth of benign prostatic hypertrophy in semisolid agar culture

Tissue samples from transurethrally resected benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) in 29 patients were disaggregated into single cells and cultured in semisolid media. In 15 cultured specimens not overgrown with bacteria or fungus, colony formation occurred in seven (47 per cent). The median plating efficiency was 0.036 per cent with a range of 0.0005 to 0.9 per cent. Studies of the cells forming the colonies demonstrated histochemical, immunohistologic, morphologic and ultrastructural findings characteristic of an epithelial origin. The results suggest a potential utility of colony forming assays in the study of benign as well as malignant cells. These BPH culture studies were limited by microorganism contamination and low yields from the disaggregation technique.