NADP-LINKED 17β- AND 20α-STEROID REDUCTASE ACTIVITY IN THE RABBIT UTERUS

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Abstract
SUMMARY NADP-linked 17β- and 20α-reductase has been investigated in the uterus of immature (8–15 weeks) and adult rabbits using three labelled steroid substrates: progesterone, androstenedione and oestrone. The enzymic profile of the adult uterus differed from that of the immature, in that only the adult showed high levels of a 17β-reductase which had far greater specificity for oestrone than for androstenedione. Compared with the adult rabbit, the uterus of the rat, ferret and rhesus monkey showed little or no reductase activity. Studies on the enzyme levels of the ovariectomized adult rabbit, and the immature rabbit treated with gonadotrophin, oestradiol, and oestradiol together with progesterone, showed that the uterine oestrone 17β-reductase was stimulated by the ovarian hormones; the response of androstenedione 17β-reductase to these hormone treatments was less marked. The oestradioldependant oestrone 17β-reductase was found predominantly in the myometrium.

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