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Sites of Production of Sex Steroids: Secretion of Steroids from X-Irradiated and Poly cystic Ovaries of Rats^*

TSUTOMU SAWADA and SHIGETAKA CHIKAWA

Laboratory of Animal Reproduction, College of Agriculture, University of Osaka Prefecture Sakai City, Osaka, Japan

Abstract

Ovaries of immature rats and PMS-induced pregnant rats were unilaterally x-irradiated. Ten days later, the concentrations of pregnane compounds in the ovarian venous plasma were measured. LH (2 µg) was injected iv 30 min before bleeding. A comparison of steroid levels in the ovarian venous effluent of rats with and without destruction of selected tissue components by irradiation of the ovaries suggests that the follicles contribute to the secretion of 5-pregnane-3,20-dione and 3-hydroxy-5-pregnan-20-one in the presence of interstitial gland tissue. Because it is known that follicular tissue is involved in the production of estrogens, we studied the interrelationship between the secretion of the two progesterone metabolites and estrogens in follicular polycystic ovaries of androgen-sterilized rats. Normal ovaries of diestrus-2 rats were used as controls for the polycystic ovaries. The injection of LH greatly increased the secretion of 5a-pregnane-3,20-dione and 3-hydroxy-5-pregnan-20-one within 1h in normal ovaries, but the response of polycystic ovaries was low, suggesting low 5-reductase activity in the cystic ovary. The polycystic ovaries exhibited a marked increase in the secretion of estrogens in response to LH, whereas normal ovaries showed no significant change. These results suggest that low 5-reductase activity may be causally related to the high level of estrogen secretion in polycystic ovaries of androgen-sterilized rats. (Endocrinology 102: 1436, 1978)

Footnotes

^* This work was supported in part by Scientific Research Grant 148074 from the Ministry of Education, Japan.

To whom requests for reprints should be addressed.

Received February 15, 1977.