Social and seasonal influences on testosterone secretion in the male rhesus monkey.
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Boar Leydig cells undergo a strong atrophy from 1 to 3 months after hypophysectomy but can be reactivated by the gonadotropin HCG in organ culture conditions. This reactivation which appeared at histological and ultrastructural level was evidenced by the capacity of testicular tissue to synthesize testosterone as judged by radioimmunoassay. Both synthesis in the tissue and release into the medium increased according the incubation time with HCG; the adjonction of 17 alpha-OH-pregneolone to culture medium led to increase the intra and extra-tissular concentration of testosterone.
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Twelve male infants with undescended testes (5 bilaterally, 7 unilaterally) were studied between the ages of 1 week and 11 months. As in older pre-pubertal cryptorchid boys, a significant decrease of the LH response to LH-RH test was found, while basal plasma levels of gonadotrophins and FSH response to LH-RH were normal. Plasma testosterone levels were in the normal range, and Leydig cells responded to stimulation by HCG, the degree of this response being significantly and positively correlated to the LH peak elicited by LH-RH. It may be concluded that some early defect of the pituitary-Leydig cell axis is associated with undescended testis.
Testicular capillary blood flow (TCBF) was measured by the radioactive inert gas clearance technique throughout the reproductive life of young adult foxes and was related to the spermatogenic and androgenic activities of the testis. Mean (+/-S.E.M.) blood flow (ml min-1 g-1) was maximal in January in adults during the mating period (0-65 +/- 0-03), and in pubertal animals (0-62 +/- 0-04). At this time spermatozoa were observed in the testes of all animals, but testicular weight and circulating testosterone levels were lower in the pubescent foxes than in the adults. TCBF was minimal during immaturity (0-29 +/- 0-03) and during the resting period of the adult (0-12 +/- 0-01). These values were associated with a low testosterone level and with the multiplication of gonocytes in the young or with the seasonal very low spermatogenic activity in the adult. During the prepubertal period, TCBF slowly increased and was accompanied by testicular growth. In the adult, in September, TCBF rapidly increased without changes of testicular size and then slowly increased as the testes enlarged. High plasma testosterone concentrations occurred later. During the period of testicular regression, TCBF, testicular size, spermatogenic and androgenic activities decreased together.
A virilizing, gonadotrophin-responsive adrenal cortical adenoma was removed from a 54-year-old woman. Following removal of the tumour, which contained and secreted androgens and estradiol, serum gonadotrophins rose to menopausal levels and the patient experienced menopausal symptoms. Pre-operative attempts to localize the source of androgens were unsuccessful.
Male rats aged 30 days were injected once daily for between 1 and 7 days with 50 ng (D-serine t-butyl6, des-glycine-NH210) luteinizing hormone releasing hormone ethylamide (LH-RH agonist), and pituitary and testicular function were assessed. Treatment for 7 days significantly (P less than 0.02) inhibited maturational increases in the pituitary content and serum concentration of gonadotrophins, testicular luteinizing hormone (LH)-receptor concentration and the testicular capacity to secrete testosterone; the pituitary content and serum concentration of prolactin, the hypothalamic content of LH-RH and testicular weight were unaffected. In rats treated with LH-RH agonist, the initial (2 to 3 days) reduction in testicular LH-receptors and the capacity to secrete testosterone probably resulted from acutely raised levels of LH in the blood, whilst later effects may have resulted from the apparently chronic reduction in serum gonadotrophin levels. The latter may reflect a decrease in pituitary responsiveness to repeated stimulation with LH-RH agonist. Despite the extensive loss of testicular LH-receptors and diminished responsiveness, the concentration of HCG which significantly (P less than 0.05) increased testosterone secretion by the testis in vitro was the same (2 pmol/l) as that for testes from control rats.
The steroid response of testes to exogenous gonadotropin administration was studied before castration in a patient with the complete form of the testicular feminization syndrome. Urinary steroid determination were made along with measurements of plasma testosterone during adrenal suppression with dexamethasone and after stimulation with human menopausal gonadotropin (HMG) and HMG plus human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). Our data provide evidence that the gonads in the testicular feminization syndrome synthesize steroids normally. Estrogens and testosterone are secreted by the testes, and the Leydig cells of the testes are capable of responding to exogenous HMG and HCG stimulation. These findins are consistent with the hypothesis that there is no abnormal testicular steroidogenesis in these genotypic males. Additional evidence is provided that these gonads secrete testosterone in amounts comparable to those of normally functioning testes. Failure of virilization in the presence of androgen secretion as indicated by previous authors is probably the result of a deficiency of androgenic action at the end organs. The presence of sparse pubic and axillary hair in the mother and the finding of the same type of karyotype (46,XY) in a sibling suggest that hereditary factors play a role in this disorder.
Organ perfusion methods offer a number of advantages in biologic studies but require full characterization before application. Two new methods for perfusing rat testes were characterized and compared with recirculating hemicorpus system. These preparations, selective and isolated testicular perfusion, are nonrecirculating and consequently, allow direct measurement of testosterone secretion. In both systems, testosterone production was a fuction of the dose of human chorionic gonadotropin in the perfusion medium up to 1000 mIU per ml which appeared to be inhibitory. The isolated testis method, in comparison with the selective, is more sensitive to human chorionic gonadotropin, requires less perfusion medium, maintains normal blood flow rates and water content, and is associated with no ischemia at commencement of perfusion. However, this system does not retain normal levels of ATP and GTP after 3 hr of perfusion. Whereas both procedures may be used for studies of testosterone secretion and androgen receptors, the inability to maintain testicular ATP and GTP levels indicates that present methods are not suitable for study of processes dependent upon high energy phosphate metabolism.
BACKGROUND: Swainsonine (SW), the main toxic component of locoweed, can cause livestock poisoning and reproductive damage in male animals; however, the mechanism by which it affects testosterone secretion remains unclear. METHODS: Ten-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were orally administered SW at doses of 0, 0.05, and 0.25 mg/(kg·d) for 28 days. TM3 mouse Leydig cells were treated with SW at concentrations of 0, 1, and 10 nM for 24 h. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis was performed on RNA-seq data from mouse testicular tissues to identify differentially enriched pathways between the control and SW-treated groups. Testosterone secretion levels were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The mRNA expression levels of steroidogenesis-related genes (StAR, Cyp11a1, Hsd3b2, and Hsd17b3) were detected by qPCR, while the expression of the steroidogenic acute regulatory (STAR) protein was detected by western blotting. AutoDock Vina molecular docking was used to predict the binding affinity between SW and the STAR protein. RESULTS: KEGG analysis revealed a significant enrichment of pathways related to steroid synthesis. In both the mouse model and TM3 cells, SW significantly inhibited testosterone secretion, downregulated the mRNA expression of StAR, Cyp11a1, Hsd3b2, and Hsd17b3, and reduced the protein expression of STAR. Molecular docking analysis revealed multiple potential hydrogen-bond interaction sites between SW and STAR. CONCLUSION: SW downregulates the expression of steroidogenesis-related genes and STAR protein, thereby suppressing testosterone secretion in male mice and TM3 cells.