Can Androgens Alone Fully Restore Seminal Vesicle Epithelium? 1

Abstract

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to determine if injected testosterone alone could restore the involuted seminal vesicle epithelium of hypophysectomized guinea pigs. Adult male guinea pigs were castrated, hypophysectomized, or hypophysectomized and castrated. Seminal vesicle epithelium was then isolated, weighed, analyzed for cytoplasmic protein content, and studied for its ability to synthesize four soluble, cell-specific, secretory proteins in vitro using immunoprecipitation techniques. Hypophysectomy, like castration, caused profound involution of this androgen-dependent tissue including loss of its protein-synthesizing capability. Testosterone replacement therapy restored wet weight, general cytoplasmic protein content, and in vitro protein synthesis to values found in castrated guinea pigs given testosterone. Thus, with regard to the parameters studied, the tissue responded to testosterone alone without apparent need for a pituitary hormone. Under the experimental conditions the administration of ovine prolactin simultaneously with testosterone did not enhance the action of testosterone in hypophysectomized-castrated guinea pigs.