In vitro-metabolism of 3H-progesterone in human testicular tissue: III Males with extremely high and low levels of gonadotrophic hormones in the peripheral circulation; including one "XX-male".

Individual steroid metabolic patterns in testicular tissue seem to vary characteristically with increasing maturity, as previously demonstrated by means of in vitro incubation studies with 3H-progesterone as substrate (Kjessler & Berg 1976; Berg et al. 1976). In the present study, individual steroid metabolic patterns were determined in two hypergonadotrophic males, one of whom representing the first instance of an "XX-male" studied in detail with regard to intratesticular steroidogenesis, and one hypogonadotrophic, hypophysectomized male. The radiolabelled steroid metabolic products recovered in the present series of testicular incubates were identical with those earlier observed in various series of prepubertal, adolescent and adult testicular specimens, i.e., 20alpha-dihydroprogesterone, 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone, 17alpha,20alpha-dihydroxy-progesterone, androstenedione and testosterone. Thus, again, no appreciable amounts of 5alpha-reduced compounds were found in the present hyper- and hypogonadotrophic individuals. However, the proportions of newly synthesized and recovered delta4-3-oxo-C21-steroids in this series, especially 20alpha-dihydroprogesterone and 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone, were found to differ considerably with various gonadotrophic stimulations. Hence, the relative proportions of 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone increased, whereas the relative proportions of 20alpha-dihydroprogesterone decreased, with increasing gonadotrophic stimulation. The present results sustain and further extend our previous assumption that the relative proportions of newly synthesized and recovered delta4-3-oxo-C21-steroids in testicular incubates in vitro, especially 20alpha-dihydroprogesterone and 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone, are primarily related to the individual degree of physiologic gonadotrophic stimulation at the moment of testicular biopsy, and less related to an unspecific maturation of various steroid metabolic enzyme systems.