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ATTEMPT AT ‘IMMUNOLOGICAL CASTRATION’ AS AN APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM OF THE INVOLVEMENT OF TESTOSTERONE IN CONTROL OF EXPRESSION OF CERTAIN MOUSE ANTIGENS
Author(s) -
Vojtíšková M.,
Voráčová B.,
Holík J.,
Havránek M.,
Matoušek V.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
international journal of immunogenetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.41
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1744-313X
pISSN - 1744-3121
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-313x.1976.tb00582.x
Subject(s) - castration , testosterone (patch) , antigen , expression (computer science) , control (management) , hormone , biology , immunology , medicine , endocrinology , computer science , artificial intelligence , programming language
SUMMARY Adult male mice of the strain B10.A were immunized with a testosterone‐protein conjugate, testosterone‐3‐(O‐carboxymethyl)‐oxime‐bovine serum albumin which contained 27·75 steroid residues/mol BSA. Two different immunization doses of the conjugate were used, respectively, 2 × 40 μg and 2 × 200 μg in complete Freund's adjuvant or in alum adjuvant. There were two groups of control males, non‐immunized and immunized with BSA in adjuvant. In the pooled immune sera, antibodies to testosterone were determined by radioimmunoassay; their titre ranged between 7 and 10. On histological sections of testes, inhibition of spermatogenesis (manifested by a lower frequency or even absence of tubules producing mature sperm, reduced frequency of tubular cells and their degenerative changes) was observed in almost all males immunized with the higher dose of the conjugate. In such animals, increased frequency of interstitial cells (except vascular elements) and enlarged nuclei of Leydig cells were found. In spite of these signs of a hyperproduction of testosterone by the Leydig cells, the product seemed to have lacked its normal biological activity as suggested not only by the low activity of spermatogenesis, but also by a significantly subnormal level of the androgen‐dependent serum protein Ss.