Testicular Action and Structural Relationships of Compounds with Antiatherogenic Activity

Abstract

Cholesterol-fed chickens have been injected subcutaneously for eight weeks with the following drugs: estradiol, diethylstilbestrol, estriol, androstanolone, δ5-androstenediol and androstanediol. Aortic and coronary atherosclerosis, blood and aortic cholesterol, as well as several endocrine structures have been studied. Coronary atherosclerosis has been prevented by estradiol and by diethylstilbestrol, while the other steroids have been ineffective at the dosage used here. When birds were considered individually, no correlation was found between antiatherogenic activity and endocrine changes, thus confirming that testicular depression is not necessary for arterial protection. An attempt to correlate molecular structure and arterial changes has been carried out.