Prostatic diseases in the senescence: structural and proliferative features.

Senescence is one of the main aetiological factors which are responsible for natural androgen ablation in men and occurrence of prostatic diseases. However, it is unclear how the prostatic lesions are signallised in the prostate. Thus, the aim of this study is to characterise the structural, the ultrastructural and the proliferative aspects of the peripheral prostatic zone in the elderly men with and without diagnoses of prostatic lesions and with potential precursors of prostate cancer. Sixty samples of prostatic tissue, from 60 to 90-year-old patients with and without lesions obtained from autopsied or prostatectomised patients were divided into four groups (15 samples per group): standard group (no lesions), benign prostatic hyper-plasia group, high-grade prostatic intra-epithelial neoplasia group and prostatic carcinoma group. The samples were submitted to morphometrical, structural and ultrastructural analyses in addition to cellular apoptosis and proliferative analyses. The results showed morphological damages in the stroma and cellular organelles involved in the secretory process of the prostate. Moreover, the prostatic lesions in elderly men demonstrated disturbance in the proliferation/apoptosis rate, indicating a prevalence of the proliferative process. Finally, the imbalance in prostatic stroma-epithelium interaction was a harmful feature in the elderly men as a result of structural changes, which are crucial factors for the development and progression of carcinogenesis.