Androgen and estrogen effect on guinea pig seminal vesicle muscle: a combined stereological and biochemical study

A combined electron microscopic stereological and biochemical study of the smooth muscle cells of guinea pig seminal vesicles was performed in intact, castrated, castrated and dihydrotestosterone- or estradiol-treated adult animals. Castration led to cell atrophy as determined stereologically by a decreased single cell volume and biochemically by no change in DNA content coupled with an increase in the DNA concentration. Treatment of castrates with dihydrotestosterone restored both the stereological and biochemical parameters of the cell size to slightly supranormal levels. The estrogen-induced increase in muscle weight and DNA content appeared to be due only to hyperplasia of muscle cells and not to a proliferation of fibroblasts or to infiltration by inflammatory cells. In all treatment groups, including the estrogen-treated castrates, more than 95% of the cells in the tissue were smooth muscle cells, and there was no evidence that polyploidy contributed to changes in DNA levels. In addition, in the estrogen-treated muscles, DNA concentration remained high, and the stereologically determined cell size remained low. Therefore, both morphological and biochemical evidence indicate that androgen induces hypertrophy, whereas estrogen induces hyperplasia of muscle cells. The correction of stereological and biochemical data validates the application of stereological cell size determination for smooth muscle cells in organs that hardly can be separated into stromal and epithelial components; eg, the prostate.