Testosterone concentration in different functional compartments of the male reproductive tract

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Abstract
The concentration of testosterone in testicular tissue (TT), spermatic vein blood (SVB), cubital blood (CB), and seminal fluid (SF) was estimated using a radioimmunoassay technique in a total of 50 normospermic, oligozoospermic, and azoospermic men. Testosterone was also determined in cauda epididymis-vas deferens ductus wash fluid (WF) in 6 normospermic men. In 2 oligozoospermic men the testosterone concentration in TT was 556 and 725 ng/g tissue, respectively. In 9 normospermic men the mean SVB testosterone concentration was 473 ng/ml. CB and SF concentrations of this steroid were 6.8 and 0.4 ng/ml in normospermic, 6.4 and 0.5 ng/ml in oligozoospermic, and 4.9 and 0.4 ng/ml in azoospermic men, respectively; the difference among the three groups was not significant. The SVB:CB and SVB:SF ratios in normospermic men were 71 and 1549, respectively, while the CB:SF ratio was 18 in normospermic, 18 in oligozoospermic, and 16.6 in azoospermic men. Testosterone could not be detected in individual specimens of WF, but after pooling of samples a concentration of 0.08 ng/ml WF was estimated. These results demonstrate the relative concentrations of testosterone in the different functional compartments of the reproductive tract in man and facilitate a better understanding of its function.