Kashiwagi Bunzo, Shibata Yasuhiro, Ono Yoshihiro, Suzuki Ryota, Honma Seijiro, Suzuki Kazuhiro
Department of Urology, Gunma University Graduated School of Medicine, Showa machi, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan.
J Androl. 2005 Sep-Oct;26(5):586-91. doi: 10.2164/jandrol.04164.
It is known that abnormal androgen dynamics in the tissues is a cause of androgen-dependent disorders. Investigation of tissue androgen levels could provide a clue to the elucidation of disorders. However, it is difficult to measure a trace amount of androgen in the tissues. We established a highly sensitive simultaneous quantification method of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which play the most important roles in the body among androgenic steroids in trace amounts, and investigated time course changes in testosterone and DHT levels in male accessory sex organs, serum, and seminal fluid after castration in rat models. In addition, changes in the testosterone/DHT ratio of male accessory sex organs and seminal fluid were observed. The simultaneous testosterone and DHT measurement method established by us was validated. Intra-assay variation and interassay precision and accuracy were all within +/-20%, and the quantification limits of testosterone and DHT were both 15.6 pg/g. With the use of this method, the testosterone and DHT levels in the prostate, seminal vesicles, and serum immediately after castration were similar to those previously reported. The testosterone and DHT levels were 350 pg/g and 605 pg/g, respectively; which showed dominance of DHT in seminal fluid, although it was not as marked as that in the male accessory sex organs. Androgens decreased with time after castration in the accessory sex organs, serum, and seminal fluid. In the prostate and seminal vesicles, testosterone and DHT decreased to about 50% and about 2% of the normal levels, respectively, 72 hours after castration. The serum levels were under the quantification limits 6 hours after castration and thereafter. In seminal fluid, the testosterone and DHT levels decreased to 49% and 35% of normal levels, respectively, 72 hours after castration. The testosterone/DHT ratio in the male accessory sex organs was lower in the prostate (0.06) than in the seminal vesicles (0.13) immediately after castration. In the seminal fluid, changes in the ratio were small compared with those in the accessory sex organs and serum. These results showed that our method was capable of measuring testosterone and DHT in very small amounts of samples such as prostate biopsy specimens, and it might provide a clue to the elucidation of the pathology of androgen-dependent disorders.
已知组织中雄激素动力学异常是雄激素依赖性疾病的一个病因。对组织雄激素水平的研究可为阐明这些疾病提供线索。然而，测量组织中痕量雄激素具有一定难度。我们建立了一种高灵敏度的睾酮和双氢睾酮（DHT）同时定量方法，睾酮和双氢睾酮在雄激素类固醇中对身体起着最重要的作用且含量极微，我们还研究了大鼠模型去势后雄性附属性器官、血清和精液中睾酮和双氢睾酮水平随时间的变化。此外，还观察了雄性附属性器官和精液中睾酮/DHT比值的变化。我们建立的睾酮和DHT同时测量方法得到了验证。批内变异以及批间精密度和准确度均在±20%以内，睾酮和DHT的定量限均为15.6 pg/g。使用该方法，去势后立即测定的前列腺、精囊和血清中的睾酮和DHT水平与先前报道的相似。睾酮和DHT水平分别为350 pg/g和605 pg/g；这表明精液中DHT占主导地位，尽管不如雄性附属性器官中明显。去势后，附属性器官、血清和精液中的雄激素随时间减少。在前列腺和精囊中，去势72小时后，睾酮和DHT分别降至正常水平的约50%和约2%。去势6小时后及之后血清水平低于定量限。在精液中，去势72小时后，睾酮和DHT水平分别降至正常水平的49%和35%。去势后立即测定时，前列腺中雄性附属性器官的睾酮/DHT比值（0.06）低于精囊（0.13）。与附属性器官和血清相比，精液中该比值变化较小。这些结果表明，我们的方法能够测量极少量样本（如前列腺活检标本）中的睾酮和DHT，并且可能为阐明雄激素依赖性疾病的病理提供线索。
