Abstract
Summary
A comparative study of the potency of testosterone propionate administered intraperitoneally and subcutaneously in 45 respective litter mate male albino rats has been made. Injections of 50 γ daily dosage were given for 10 days from 22 to 32 days of age. Body weights before and after the experiment, final seminal vesicular- and testicular-weights were statistically compared. It was found that the intraperitoneally-injected animals gained 1 1 % less weight, and showed a 274% increase in seminal vesicular growth, and a 41.9% decrease in testicular size over their controls.
The subcutaneously injected animals showed practically no difference in gain in weight, a 185% increase in seminal vesicular weight, and a 52.8% decrease in testicular size compared to their controls. The differences observed for seminal vesicular and testicular weights were statistically “probably significant.” The diminished weight increase observed for the intraperitoneally-injected animals while not statistically significant was sufficiently large to indicate a trend.
It is concluded that under the conditions of the experiments cited, testosterone propionate may vary in potency in accordance with its method of administration. But generalizations are as yet invalid since the greater testicular effect (depression) was observed by subcutaneous injection, and the greatest seminal vesicular response (stimulation) resulted from intraperitoneal administration.
The author acknowledges with appreciation the :tit1 rendered by the Ciba Pharmaceutical Products, Inc., for helping defray the expense and for supplying the Perandren used in this study.
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