Attempt at "immunological castration" as an approach to the problem of the involvement of testosterone in control of expression of certain mouse antigens

Abstract

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 x 40 mug and 2 x 200 mug 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 sower 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.

PIP: Adult male mice of the strain B10.A were immunized with a testosterone-protein conjugate, testosterone-3-(0-carboxymethyl)-oxime-bovine serum albumin (T-BSA) which contained 27.75 steroid residues/mol BSA. 2 different immunization doses of the conjugate were used, respectively, 2 X 40 mcg and 2 X 200 mcg in complete Freund's adjuvant or in alum adjuvant. There were 2 groups of control males, nonimmunized and immunized with BSA in adjuvant. In the pooled immune sera, antibodies to T were determined by radio immunoassay: their titer ranged from 7 to 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 hyperproduction of T by the Leydig cells, the product seemed to lack its normal biological activity as suggested by the low activity of spermatogenesis and by significantly subnormal levels of androgen-dependent serum protein subjects.