PROSTAGLANDIN AND GONADOTROPIN STIMULATION OF TESTOSTERONE SECRETION IN THE RAT TESTIS

Abstract

The response of the rat testis in vitro to gonadotropin and prostagladin El stimulation of testosterone secretion at different stages of rat development was studied. The technique employed involved the incubation of thecapsulated rat testis and the estimation of the secretion of testosterone by radioimmunoassay. The effects of the following factors on this process were also examined: (1) Low protein diet; (2) Drug (chloroquine) therapy. Studies of the basal levels of testosterone and PGE1 in these animals were supplemented by histologic evaluations. Based on the correlation of body and testis weights blood levels of testosterone and leydig cell development with age, the growth and development of the rat was found to be characterised in three distinct phases; these are the prepubertal, pubertal and postpubertal periods. The prepubertal period was found to be a period of minimal growth during which the circulating testosterone levels increasing from 0. 43±0.04nmol/L at 15 days to 1.24±043nmol/L at day 40. Also a gradual increase in basal secretory capacity of the rat testis occurred from 2.42±0.38nmolT/3hr./Testis at day 15 to 4.0.1±0.54nmolT/3hr./Testis