Abstract

The distribution of androgen concentrating cells in male rat forebrain and pituitary was studied by autoradiography. One h after injection of a non-aromatizable androgen [ 3H]-dihydrotestosterone (17β-hydroxy-5α-androstan-3-one) (DHT), nuclear concentration of radioactivity is found in neurons at specific hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic sites as well as in certain anterior pituitary cells. In the forebrain radioactively labeled cells are found in certain nuclei of the septum, preoptic region, anterior and central hypothalamus, mammillary body, epithalamus, amygdala and hippocampus. Furthermore, nuclear labeling is observed in ventricular recess organs, including the pituitary, the pineal and the subfornical organ. Competition studies with unlabeled estrad-17β at a dose similar to the labeled DHT has no or little effect on the nuclear uptake of radioactivity in neurons, whereas a dose of estradiol-17β ten times higher than the dose of the labeled DHT reduces the nuclear uptake in certain neuronal groups by 20–25%. Unlabeled DHT inhibits nuclear uptake of radioactivity. The autoradiographic results suggest that DHT is one of the major active metabolites responsible for the central action of testosterone.

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