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. 1976 Dec 15;160(3):433–437. doi: 10.1042/bj1600433

The effect of calcium ions on testosterone production in Leydig cells from rat testis.

F H Janszen, B A Cooke, M J Van Driel, H J Van Der Molen
PMCID: PMC1164258  PMID: 1016234

Abstract

Leydig-cell suspensions, prepared from rat testes, were incubated with different amounts of Ca2+ with and without added luteinizing hormone. The basal testosterone production in the absence of luteinizing hormone was unaffected by the Ca2+ concentration in the incubation medium. The luteinizing hormone-stimulated testosterone production, however, was progressively decreased in the absence of Ca2+ to one-third of that with 2.50 mM-Ca2+. This decrease in luteinizing hormone-stimulated testosterone production was independent of the different concentrations of luteinizing hormone (0-10mug/ml) used and could be restored by the addition of Ca2+ to the incubation medium. The restoration of the stimulation was achieved within 30 min after the addition of Ca2+ to the medium. Activation of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase by luteinizing hormone was not decreased by omission of Ca2+ from the incubation medium, suggesting that Ca2+ may be involved in steroidogenesis at a stage beyond the luteinizing hormone receptor-adenylate cyclase-protein kinase system.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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