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Non-polar extracts of serum from human males contain covert radioimmunoassayable testosterone

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:5613487
A form of testosterone that cannot be detected by standard radioimmunoassay procedures was identified in the sera of healthy men. The sera were extracted with petroleum ether, subjected to mild alkali hydrolysis, purified by reverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography, and assayed by radioimmunoassay. Hydrolyzed non-polar serum extracts from ten adult male volunteers contained 2.0 {plus minus} 0.8 ng/ml testosterone. In contrast, no testosterone was found in hydrolyzed petroleum ether extracts of sera from eight women or in any of the unhydrolyzed samples. Two other women had values of 0.7 ng/ml and 0.8 ng/ml. Testosterone palmitate, used as a model compound, was hydrolyzable by the procedure and gave recoveries of more than 90%. These findings reveal the presence of substantial quantities of novel naturally-occurring non-polar conjugates of testosterone (NPT) in sera of human males. The compounds may be analogous to long-chain fatty acid conjugates of estradiol identified in female sera. The lipoidal estrogens exert long-lasting biological actions attributed to slow release of free hormone. NPT may therefore act physiologically as hormone reservoirs when little or no androgen is released by the testis. They may also contribute to abnormal stimulation of androgen-responsive tissues. Some evidence for their presence in the sera of patients with prostatic cancer receiving androgen-supression therapy has been obtained.
Research Organization:
City Univ. of New York, NY (USA)
OSTI ID:
5613487
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English