The effect of hCG-treatment on in vitro metabolism of progesterone by the human undescended pre-pubertal testis

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Abstract
Testicular biopsies from 8 pre-pubertal boys aged 3.5-11 yr, with undescended testes, were incubated in vitro with [3H]progesterone (P). All boys had been treated with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) during the 5 wk prior to surgery. Four boys were operated within 4 days of the last injection and the remaining 4 at 12 days, 14 days, 6 mo. and 12 mo., respectively, after hormone treatment. Significant steroid metabolic activity was demonstrated in all cases. Biopsies taken a short time after hCG treatment (1-4 days), when blood testosterone levels were high, exhibited a high capacity for metabolizing progesterone in vitro with a low ratio of formed 20.alpha.-dihydroprogesterone (20.alpha.-DH-P) to 17.alpha.-hydroxyprogesterone (17.alpha.-OH-P), when compared to biopsies removed from subjects 12-14 days after cessation of treatment. In the latter cases and in biopsies taken at longer intervals after treatment, the metabolic activity and the 20.alpha.-DH-P/17.alpha.-OH-P ratio had returned to levels characteristic of untreated pre-pubertal cyptorchid testes. The use of hCG to provoke descent of the malpositioned testes evidently does not result in long-lasting stimulation of steroidogenic function.