Abnormal zinc metabolism in unilateral maldescended testes of a mutant rat strain.
The status of zinc in a mutant rat strain with heritable maldescended testes was examined. In rats with unilateral maldescended testis, the ectopic testis consistently had decreased zinc content (121.0 +/- 23.0 micrograms zinc/g dry wt), while the eutopic testis had zinc content similar to that of normal rats (182.0 +/- 5.0 micrograms zinc/g dry wt). Uptake of zinc by the ectopic testis was comparable to normal. Sephadex gel chromatography showed greatly reduced zinc content of one of the endogenous zinc binding fractions with a mol wt of 30,000 of cytosol of the ectopic testis in spite of a near normal protein content. Incorporation of zinc-65 into this fraction was also shown to be greatly reduced in ectopic testis. Sodium dodecylsulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis demonstrated that a protein of 23,000 Da was greatly reduced in quantity. This 23-kDa protein in ectopic testis may play a role in reduced testicular function of the ectopic testis.
D000818:Animals; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002828:Choristoma / Q000378:metabolism*; D003300:Copper / Q000378:metabolism; D003600:Cytosol / Q000378:metabolism; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D008297:Male; D008970:Molecular Weight; D051381:Rats; D011922:Rats, Mutant Strains; D013737:Testis / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D015032:Zinc / Q000378:metabolism*; D015037:Zinc Radioisotopes
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D015037:Zinc Radioisotopes; C017800:zinc-binding protein; D003300:Copper; D015032:Zinc