Protein bound folates in liver of castrated rats.
The effect of castration and testosterone treatment on the distribution of [3H] radioactive and endogenous bound folates in hepatic cytosolic folate binding proteins (FBP-C) has been studied in rats. The distribution of [3H] radioactive bound folates in these FBP's shows no significant difference in the three experimental group animals. On the contrary a significant decrease in the amount of endogenous bound folates is observed in castrated if compared with control rats, particularly marked for FBP-CI and FBP-CII bound folates. The testosterone treatment of castrated rats partially restores bound folate levels. The decrease of bound folates in castrated rats might be ascribable to a lower availability of longer-chain forms, almost the ones that bind to FBP's; however lower binding protein content and/or lower affinity for ligands cannot be excluded.
D000818:Animals; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002369:Castration; D003600:Cytosol / Q000378:metabolism; D058973:Folate Receptors, GPI-Anchored; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008970:Molecular Weight; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D013739:Testosterone / Q000494:pharmacology; D014316:Tritium
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D058973:Folate Receptors, GPI-Anchored; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D014316:Tritium; D013739:Testosterone; D005492:Folic Acid