Appling D R, Chytil F
Endocrinology. 1981 Jun;108(6):2120-4. doi: 10.1210/endo-108-6-2120.
Animals maintained on retinol (vitamin A-alcohol)-deficient diets exhibit testicular atrophy and loss of the germinal epithelium. Retinoic acid (vitamin A-acid), when fed to retinol-deficient animals, does not prevent these lesions and had thus been thought not to play a role in the tests. Serum testosterone (T) levels, determined by RIA, in retinol-deficient rats were determined to be significantly lower than in control rats. In contrast, retinoic acid-fed, retinol-deficient rats exhibited serum T concentrations similar to those of control rats. No difference in immunoreactive serum LH levels was observed in the three groups. The response of serum T to ip administration of LH in retinol-deficient animals relative to basal levels was similar to that observed in control as well as retinoic acid-fed, retinol-deficient rats. These results show that while basal T production in retinol-depleted rats is decreased, LH-stimulated T synthesis is unaffected. Furthermore, retinoic acid, in the absence of retinol, can support T production, suggesting that contrary to present dogma, retinoic acid plays a role in testis.
以缺乏视黄醇（维生素A - 醇）的饲料喂养的动物会出现睾丸萎缩和生精上皮丧失。当给缺乏视黄醇的动物喂食视黄酸（维生素A - 酸）时，这些损伤并未得到预防，因此一直被认为在睾丸中不起作用。通过放射免疫分析法（RIA）测定，发现缺乏视黄醇的大鼠血清睾酮（T）水平显著低于对照大鼠。相比之下，喂食视黄酸的缺乏视黄醇的大鼠血清T浓度与对照大鼠相似。三组动物的免疫反应性血清促黄体生成素（LH）水平未观察到差异。缺乏视黄醇的动物中，血清T对腹腔注射LH相对于基础水平的反应与对照大鼠以及喂食视黄酸的缺乏视黄醇的大鼠中观察到的反应相似。这些结果表明，虽然视黄醇缺乏的大鼠基础T生成减少，但LH刺激的T合成未受影响。此外，在没有视黄醇的情况下，视黄酸可以支持T的生成，这表明与目前的观点相反，视黄酸在睾丸中起作用。
