Effects of Estrogen and HCG on Androgen Synthesis by Human Testes1

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Abstract
Testes from subjects with cancer of the prostate, who had been treated with diethylstilbestrol for varying lengths of time (0-30 months), were homogenized and incubated with either 17 α-hydroxyprogesterone-4-C14 or 4-androstene-3, 17-dione-4-C14and reduced triphosphopyridine nucleotide. Quantitation of the metabolic products showed that long-term estrogen therapy prevented the reduction of androstenedione to testosterone, but it had little effect on the conversion of 17 α-hydroxyprogesterone to androstenedione, which accumulated in the incubation medium. Administration to patients of human chorionic gonadotrophin for 5 days, concomitantly with diethylstilbestrol, completely restored the ability of the homogenates to reduce androstenedione to testosterone.