Testosterone metabolism by serially subcultured fibroblasts from genital and nongenital skin of individual human donors

Abstract

Summary Skin fibroblasts were cultured from the prepuce and deltoid area of three males, and from the labia majora and abdomen of two females. The genital skin strains metabolised testosterone much faster than those derived from nongenital skin. This is the first clear demonstration of the persistence in serially subcultured cells of a metabolic difference between nonmalignant somatic tissues of human beings.