Testicular and adrenocortical function in healthy men and in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia

Abstract

The influence of aging upon serum concentrations of testicular steroids, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and pituitary hormones and on adrenal steroid levels and adrenal steroid response to ACTH was studied in 81 healthy men aged 20–87 years. These endocrine variables were also compared in 43 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), aged 58–89 years and in a subgroup of 41 men, aged 58–87 years, from the above mentioned reference population. The normal endocrine aging was characterized by a rise in SHBG levels, decreasing levels of testicular steroids and non-SHBG-bound testosterone (NST) and increasing gonadotropin levels and decreasing concentrations of total estrone. Adrenal androgen levels decreased in the presence of unchanged levels of cortisol and the adrenal steroid response to ACTH changed by decreasing increments in dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA) and increasing increments in 17α-hydroxyprogesterone (17OHP). With the exception of the alterations in SHBG and adrenal androgens, all these changes were finished before the seventh decade of life. BPH patients had elevated levels of testosterone and NST in the presence of normal SHBG and gonadotropin levels, elevated levels of DHA and DHA sulfate (DHAS) in the presence of normal cortisol levels, a “younger” pattern of adrenal steroid response to ACTH as judged from the increments in DHA and 17OHP, elevated ratios between estrone and 4-androstene-3,17-dione suggesting an increased peripheral aromatization and subnormal prolactin levels. BPH patients may be considered as “endocrinologically younger” than healthy subjects. DHA and especially its proximate metabolite 5-androstene-3β, 17β-diol exert powerful estrogenic effects on the receptor level. Thus the elevated levels of DHA and DHAS in the BPH patients may create an hyperestrogenic condition in addition to the slight hyperandrogenicity caused by the elevated NST levels. Both endocrine aberrations may play a role in the etiology of BPH, in accordance with the dual sex steroid sensitivity of the periurethral glands.