THE BINDING OF [1,2-3H]TESTOSTERONE WITHIN NUCLEI OF THE RAT PROSTATE

Abstract

SUMMARY The specificity of the binding of [1,2-3H]testosterone to nuclei of various rat tissues in vivo has been studied. A significant amount of radioactivity was retained in the nuclei of androgen-dependent tissues only, particularly the ventral prostate gland. The bound radioactivity was only partially recovered as [1,2-3H]testosterone; the remainder was identified as [3H]5α-dihydrotestosterone. Efforts were made to characterize the binding component, or 'receptor', in prostatic nuclei. On digestion of nuclei labelled in vivo with [1,2-3H]testosterone, with enzymes of narrow substrate specificity, only trypsin released tritium, suggesting that the receptor is a protein. On the basis of subfractionation studies of labelled nuclei, the receptor is an acidic protein. The androgen—receptor complex could be effectively extracted from the prostatic nuclei in 1 m-NaCl and from the results of fractionations on a calibrated agarose column, the complex has a molecular weight 100,000–120,000. The specificity of the binding of steroids to such 1 m-NaCl extracts in vitro was investigated by the equilibrium dialysis procedure. Under these conditions, the specificity of the binding of [1,2-3H]testosterone demonstrated in vivo could not be simulated. The receptor is probably part of the chromatin complex but its precise intranuclear localization cannot be determined by biochemical procedures alone.