Hormonal Influences on Phosphatase Activity of Rat Accessory Sexual Glands

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Abstract
Alkaline and acid phosphatase activities were determined in the ventral prostates and seminal vesicles of castrated rats treated with testosterone and various estrogens. p-Nitrophenyl phosphate was used as the substrate in all the experiments. Acid phosphatase activity of the ventral prostate was not stimulated by testosterone. The tartrate-inhibited fraction comprised not more than 35% of the total acid phosphatase activity. Testosterone stimulated the alkaline phosphatase activity of ventral prostates and estradiol-17[beta] consistently elevated the alkaline phosphatase activity of testosterone-stimulated prostates. Stilbestrol produced a synergistic effect equivalent to that of estradiol-17[beta]. Estrone and estradiol benzoate at the same dose produced a nonsignificant elevation. Estradiol administered alone had no significant effect on alkaline phosphatase activity in the ventral prostate. In the seminal vesicles estrogens had no significant effect on the testosterone-stimulated alkaline phosphatase activity. Estradiol administered alone significantly depressed the alkaline phosphatase activity of the seminal vesicles. The synergistic effect of estradiol-17[beta] on the alkaline phosphatase activity of the ventral prostate could be blocked by the simultaneous administration of an antiestrogen.