Comparative Effects of Estradiol and Coumestrol Diacetate, a Nonsteroid Estrogenic Substance, on Lipid Metabolism in the Male Rat

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Abstract
Increasing levels of the diacetate of coumestrol, an estrogenic substance isolated from clover, were compared with estradiol benzoate, in the normal and castrate male rat, for their effect on food intake, growth, testicle and adrenal size, and liver and plasma lipid distribution. In both normal and castrate groups, injected estradiol benzoate (15, 30, or 100 µg per week) produced depressed growth, testicular and adrenal changes, a rise in plasma cholesterol, and a lipotropic effect on the glyceride fraction of the cholesterol-induced fatty liver. No comparable changes were produced with the oral administration of 1, 3, 5, 10, and 15 mg of coumestrol diacetate daily. It appears, therefore, that although coumestrol has a definite estrogenic effect on the uterus of the young female rat, the compound is inactive and apparently nontoxic for the adult male animal.