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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1979 Sep;76(9):4460–4463. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.9.4460

Acute stimulation of aromatization in Leydig cells by human chorionic gonadotropin in vitro.

L E Valladares, A H Payne
PMCID: PMC411596  PMID: 291977

Abstract

Aromatization of testosterone in Leydig cells purified from mature rat testes was assessed. Leydig cells incubated for 4 hr with increasing concentrations of [3H]testosterone. At saturating concentrations of testosterone, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) acutely stimulated aromatization. This stimulation was first observed at 1 hr, an 8-fold increase being found during a 4-hr incubation. The maximal amount of estradiol produced at saturating concentrations of testosterone and hCG was 1.8 ng per 10(6) cells. These results demonstrate that purified Leydig cells have a high capacity for aromatization and that hCG can acutely stimulate aromatization independently of stimulating testosterone synthesis in vitro.

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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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