[Plasma levels, metabolic clearance rates, and rates of secretion of testosterone and estradiol-l7 beta in the silver eel (Anguilla anguilla L.)].

Testosterone (T) and 17 beta-estradiol (E2) plasma levels and metabolic clearance rates (MCR) were measured to investigate their ovarian production in immature silver eel. The dynamics of T and E2 metabolism were studied in catheterized eels using single injections of 0.2 to 0.5 microCi 3H-labeled steroid. The distribution volumes, biological half-life and MCR of nonconjugated tracers were calculated on the basis of a two-compartment model. At the end of the experiments, radioactivity was measured in different organs and tissues to localize the site of T and E2 catabolism. The volume of the inner compartment was 3.4% for T and E2. The outer compartment was larger for T (6.4%) than that for E2 (4.3%). The biological half-life was three to four times shorter for T (14.5 hr) than that for E2 (48.5 hr). The MCR for T (1.71 ml/kg body wt/hr) was higher than for E2 (0.51 ml/kg body wt/hr). Plasma levels were determined, using radioimmunoassay, on samples taken before injections of radiolabeled steroid. Free or protein-bound hormone levels were 0.12 and 0.31 ng/ml for T and E2, respectively. Conjugated T and E2 levels were, respectively, 0.13 and 0.23 ng/ml. Production rates were determined as the product of the MCR and the plasma concentration of the nonconjugated hormone. No significant differences were observed between the production rates of T and E2 (0.24 ng/kg body wt/hr). The liver was the principal site of metabolism for both hormones, which were excreted via the enterohepatic route. E2 injection gave rise to no metabolite in the plasma whereas after T injection a metabolite was produced, the concentration of which increased as a function of time. Its chromatographic properties were different from that of E2 or androstenedione, suggesting that no significant peripheral aromatization or 17-oxidoreduction occurs in the immature silver eel.