PRELIMINARY CHARACTERIZATION OF AN ANDROGEN-MACROMOLECULAR COMPLEX FROM THE RAT VENTRAL PROSTATE

Abstract

ABSTRACT Following administration of (1,2-3H)-testosterone to castrated rats or incubation of prostatic tissue with the same steroid, a gel filtration technique has been used for the isolation of a soluble steroid-macromolecular complex from the tissues. Subsequent steroid analyses revealed that 5α-androstan-17β-ol-3-one was the major component associated with the macromolecules both in the in vivo and by in vitro experiments. The complex is destroyed by proteolytic enzymes like trypsin and pronase, but is unaffected by DNase and RNase. The complex is excluded from G-200 as well as P-300 gel beds. By sucrose density gradient centrifugation two macromolecular components were found associated with radioactivity. The largest component had a sedimentation coefficient of 9.3 S and probably corresponds to the macromolecular complex demonstrated by gel filtration, whereas the smaller component had a sedimentation coefficient of 4.5 S and might represent an association of steroids with serum albumin.