Testosterone, dihydrotestosterone and androstanediols in plasma, testes and prostates of rats during development

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Abstract
Testosterone (T), 5.alpha.-dihydrotestosterone (DHT), 5.alpha.-androstane-3.alpha.,17.beta.-diol (3.alpha.-diol), and 5.alpha.-androstane-3.beta.,17.beta.-diol (3.beta.-diol) were measured in the plasma, ventral prostate, and testes of Sprague Dawley rats with a specific radioimmunoassay, at birth, and then weekly until the 12th wk. In plasma, the T concentration is .apprx. 0.3 ng/ml at birth and up to the 4th wk; thereafter it increases steadily and reaches the adult level of .apprx. 3 ng/ml by the Sth wk. In male fetuses of 18 days gestation, the plasma concentration is 0.6 ng/ml. The 5.alpha.-metabolites taken together are at a higher concentration than that of T until the 7th wk, and each one, after a broad maximum between 5-9 wk, decreases promptly by the 10th wk. The larger formation of 5.alpha.-metabolites from T in young rats was confirmed by injection of the hormone to castrated males, which showed relatively more conversion at 5 than at 10 wk. In the ventral prostate, DHT is already high at 4 wk (11 ng/g), and remain between 7 and 15 mg/g until the 12th wk. T concentration is also larger than in plasma at 4th wk (2 ng/g) and becomes approximately equal to the plasma value at puberty. A sharp peak of 3.alpha.-diol and 3.beta.-diol is observed at the 8th wk. In the testes, T concentration is high at birth (183 ng/g), then declines rapidly, and increases again from the 5th wk onward in parallel with plasma concentration. The concentrations of 5.alpha.-metabolites per testis vary in parallel to those in plasma, with the exception of sustained elevation of 3.beta.-diol.

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