Testosterone Metabolism in Rabbits Actively Immunized with Testosterone

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Abstract
Active immunization of male rabbits markedly increased plasma testosterone (T) and the fraction of T bound to circulating proteins. In order to identify the cause of the increased T levels, the half-life of T after castration and the metabolic clearance rate (MCR) and production rate (PR) after a single injection of 3H T were determined in normal and immunized rabbits. In the immunized animals the half-life of T was significantly longer, the MCR showed a 10-fold decrease (10.2 .+-. 3.2 1/day compared to 108 .+-. 43 1/day), and the PR increased from 0.44 .+-. 0.34 mg/day to 1.20 .+-. 0.36 mg/day compared with the control group. The binding of T to circulating antibodies is considered to be the direct cause of the decreased MCR and, via the diminished negative feedback at the hypothalamic-pituitary levels, the indirect cause of the increased PR in the immunized animals.

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