title: Suggestion of abnormal testicular steroidogenesis in some oligospermic men.
abstract: Androgen biosynthesis in the testis may be analyzed in some detail by means of techniques of in vitro incubation of small testicular biopsy specimens with suitable radiolabelled precursors. Sixty-six tissue specimens from 33 patients who underwent bilateral testicular biopsies because of infertility were incubated in vitro with [3H]pregnenolone in order to investigate the possibility of abnormalities in their steroid biosynthetic activity. As a normal control, testicular tissue obtained by testicular biopsy from a young normal volunteer was used. The distribution of metabolites in the incubates of testes from 8 infertile men differed greatly from the remaining 25 patients and the normal control. The major steroids formed from pregnenolone by the testes of those 8 men were 17-hydroxypregnenolone, dehydroepiandrosterone, 20alpha-dihydropregnenolone and and 20alpha-dihydro-17-hydroxypregnenolone. Very small amounts of delta4-3 oxo products (progesterone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, androstenedione and testosterone) were formed suggesting a deficiency of 3beta-hydroxy-steroid-dehydrogenase activity in the testes of these 8 men, possibly related to the derangement of their spermatogenic function.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000728:Androgens / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D000735:Androstenedione / Q000096:biosynthesis; D006801:Humans; D006913:Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenases / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009845:Oligospermia / Q000378:metabolism*; D011277:Pregnanediones / Q000096:biosynthesis; D011284:Pregnenolone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism*; D011374:Progesterone / Q000096:biosynthesis; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism*; D013739:Testosterone / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: D000728:Androgens; D011277:Pregnanediones; D013739:Testosterone; D000735:Androstenedione; D011374:Progesterone; D011284:Pregnenolone; D006913:Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenases