SITES AND NATURE OF PROTEIN ANABOLISM STIMULATED BY TESTOSTERONE PROPIONATE IN THE RAT

Abstract

Castrated adult rats brought into body wt. equilibrium and injd. with testosterone propionate deposited protein in the carcass, seminal vesicles and prostates, liver and kidney. If, however, the intensity of treatment either by increased dosage or duration of treatment was increased, then the carcass began to lose not only fat but also protein which apparently was diverted to primarily the accessory sex organs and at a smaller extent the kidneys for these organs continued to grow. Furthermore, if the rats had a relatively high carcass fat content, the androgen caused a rapid reduction to the normal level. The above effect occurred in castrated and also normal rats fed ad libitum. Moreover, the androgen produced an increase in appetite of the castrated rats after 60 days of injn. but not in the normal rats. The qualitative and quantitative amino acid composition of the skeletal (gastrocnemius) muscle, liver, kidney and seminal vesicles and prostate were not changed by the androgen. Furthermore, the amino acid composition of each tissue was very similar. The total protein, non-protein N and amino acid N of the plasma of rats injected for 13 days with 1 mg./day of testosterone propionate were identical to those of control rats. The total amino acid and the partition of the urinary amino acids by paper chromatography showed no marked changes due to the androgen. An hypothesis for the mechanism of action of androgens on tumors is presented.