Testosterone induces hypothalamic aromatase during early development in quail

Abstract

The effects of testosterone on androgen metabolizing enzymes were examined in the developing hypothalamus of male and female quail using an in vitro radiometric assay which measures metabolite formation in individual brain samples. Testosterone (T) administered by subcutaneous silastic implants to gonadectomized 4-day-old chicks increased formation of estradiol-17β (E2) in both preoptic area + anterior hypothalamus (PA) and posterior hypothalamus + tuberal area (HT) to adult levels. The T-induced increase in E2 formation occurred to the same degree in both sexes. The increase was very small in control non-target areas, neostriatum intermediale + hyperstriatum ventrale (VN), of either sex. Testosterone had no effect on formation of 5α-dihydrotestosterone (5α-DHT), 5β-dihydrotestosterone (5β-DHT) and 5β-androstane 3α,17β-diol (5β,3α-diol) in PA. Kinetic analysis of the rate of E2 production by hypothalamic tissue from castrated chicks (CX-chicks) and castrates treated with T (CX+T-chicks) indicates that the increase in hypothalamic aromatase activity by T corresponds to induction of the enzyme: the V max (maximum velocity) was increased by T (CX-chicks, 21; CX+T-chicks, 91 fmol/mg FW/h), whereas the K m was unaffected (CX-chicks, 5.5; CX+T-chicks, 4.7 × 10 −8 M). Testosterone treatment, effective for inducing PA and HT aromatase activity, also activated crowing and caused cloacal gland development; neither of these effects were sexually dimorphic. Our results indicate that: (1) T induces aromatase specifically in the hypothalamus during early post-hatching development, other pathways of T metabolism are not affected; and (2) the inducible aromatase is not sexually dimorphic in the developing brain. Since there are sex differences in adult brain aromatase, we conclude that capacity for induction of the hypothalamic aromatase becomes sexually differentiated after the post-hatching period.