Effects of Estrogen and HCG on Androgen Synthesis by Human Testes1

Abstract

Testes from subjects with cancer of the prostate, who had been treated with diethylstilbestrol for varying lengths of time (0-30 months), were homogenized and incubated with either 17 α-hydroxyprogesterone-4-C¹⁴ or 4-androstene-3, 17-dione-4-C¹⁴and reduced triphosphopyridine nucleotide. Quantitation of the metabolic products showed that long-term estrogen therapy prevented the reduction of androstenedione to testosterone, but it had little effect on the conversion of 17 α-hydroxyprogesterone to androstenedione, which accumulated in the incubation medium. Administration to patients of human chorionic gonadotrophin for 5 days, concomitantly with diethylstilbestrol, completely restored the ability of the homogenates to reduce androstenedione to testosterone.