The effects of low O2 and antioxidants on steroidogenic capacity in cultured rat Leydig cells.

Abstract

The development of methods for Leydig cell culture in a chemically defined medium has proven of considerable value to numerous investigators in recent years. It is now possible to study hormone action and control of Leydig cell steroidogenesis using such a system. Most investigators report that mature rat Leydig cells in culture remain viable for 7–10 days, however, function (LH/hCG binding to membrane receptors and testosterone production) is lost after 3–4 days (Mather et al., 1981; Browning et al., 1983).KeywordsLeydig CellTestosterone ProductionProgesterone ProductionCholesterol Side Chain CleavageMitochondrial CholesterolThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.