Abstract
Androst-4-ene-3β, 17β, 19-triol (androstenetriol) was incubated with the whole testis tissue of a normal rat (Donryu strain). The testis from the right side was incubated with 40 or 50μg of androstenetriol and the testis of the left side was incubated without substrate to serve as a control. The acidic fraction was extracted from the incubation mixture of tissue and medium. The estrogens in the acidic fraction were separated by the alumina column chromatography method in one experiment, and by the combination of paper chromatography (Bush B5) and thin-layer chromatography methods in the other two experiments. The fluorescence spectra of estrogen fractions in sulfuric acid and their amounts were determined by spectrophotofluorometry. In all incubations a much larger amount of estriol fraction was determined in the androstenetriol incubation than in the control incubation. Incorporation of radioactivity into the acidic fraction was measured in the incubation of testis tissue of one side with dehydroepiandrosterone-14C and in the other side with testosterone-14C. The rate of incorporation of14C into the acidic fraction from dehydroepiandrosterone incubation was considerably greater than that of the testosterone incubation.
