Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in male humans is treated by administering to a male patient in which such condition has been diagnosed, an effective BPH treating amount within the range of from 1 ng to 80 mg of melatonin, which may be in the form of a pharmaceutical formulation for use in treating BPH, which comprises, in combination a carrier, diluent or adjuvant, (1) an effective BPH treating amount of melatonin; and optionally (2) antiandrogens, antiestrogens, growth hormones and/or inhibitors of prostatal testosterone reductase; and/or (3) oxazepam or other melatonin receptor profile modifier.
This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 08/111,014, filed Aug. 24, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,750,557 which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 07/864,684, filed Apr. 7, 1992, now abandoned.
There are disclosed a large conductance calcium-activated K channel opener comprising a compound of the formula (I): ##STR00001## wherein ring A is a 5-membered heterocyclic ring containing any one of O, N or S, which ring may be substituted by R.sup.4, R.sup.1 is aryl, heterocyclic or heterocycle-substituted carbonyl; R.sup.2 is hydrogen, halogen, carboxy, amino, alkyl, alkoxycarbonyl, alkenyl or cycloalkyl; R.sup.3 is aryl, heterocyclic or alkyl; and R.sup.4 is hydrogen or alkyl, each of substituents may be substituted, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof as an active ingredient.
