THE ANDROGENS OF BOVINE SPERMATIC VENOUS BLOOD1

Abstract

The androgen titer of the peripheral plasma of five adult bulls has been found to be of the order of 3.0 ¼g per 100 ml.; in one animal, treatment with human chorionic gonadotropin (20,000 units per day for 7 days) did not change this value. Spermatic venous plasma of the adult bull (3 animals) was found to range from 7.8 to 17.7 ¼g per 100 ml.; prior treatment with chorionic gonadotropin (20,000 units daily) for 6 to 7 days raised the spermatic venous plasma androgen from 49.5 to 85.0 ¼g per 100 ml. Chemical analysis revealed testosterone and androstenedione, in the ratio 7 to 1, to be the major androgenic substances present in the spermatic venous plasma of the gonadotropin-treated animal. 17-Hydroxyprogesterone in quantity equivalent to that of the latter steroid was also isolated from the spermatic venous blood. The significance of the ratio of testosterone to androstenedione in the testis effluent, which is greater than 1 in the case of the adult bull, the clog and the human, and less than 1 in the young bull, the stallion and the rat, is discussed.