Bromocriptine, a dopamine agonist, directly inhibits testosterone production by rat Leydig cells.
We investigated the direct effects of bromocriptine (BR) on both basal and hCG-stimulated testosterone production by rat collagenase-dispersed Leydig cells. In a final volume of 2.2 ml, 2.10(6) Leydig cells were incubated at 33 degrees C for 3 h either alone or with various amounts of hCG (1. 10. 10(2). 10(3). 10(4) mUI/vial) and BR (1.5 10(-9), 1.5 10(-7), 1.5 10(-5) M); BR was dissolved in 20 microliters of ethanol. BR (1.5 10(-5) M) decreased significantly both basal and hCG-stimulated testosterone production whereas at lower doses, BR had no effect. These results suggest that the dopamine itself may regulate rat Leydig cell function and that there is room for criticism of BR-induced hypoprolactinemia as an experimental model to study the effect of prolactin on the androgenic function.