THE METABOLISM OF TESTOSTERONE BY LIVER TISSUE OF NIACIN, TRYPTOPHAN OR THIAMINE DEFICIENT RATS1

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
THE role of the vitamins in the metabolic inactivation of hormones by the liver has been investigated by Biskind (1943) using the splenic implantation of the hormone in rats on deficient diets fed ad libitum. In such animals, however, there is a loss of appetite and, therefore, multiple deficiencies develop. Drill and Pfeiffer (1946) have shown by biological techniques that this is a major factor in the reduced estrogen inactivation following thiamine deficiency. The present series of experiments was undertaken, therefore, to attempt to determine the relative role of certain watersoluble vitamins in testosterone metabolism under conditions where the intake of other dietary constitutents was maintained. Niacin deficiency was chosen because of the evidence already obtained that diphosphopyridine nucleotide (DPN) is an essential cofactor in the enzymic reaction whereby an alcohol group on carbon-17 of testosterone is oxidized to a ketone (Sweat and Samuels, 1948).