Effect of gossypol on 5 alpha-reductase and 3 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activities in adult rat testes.

It has been reported that little to no 5 alpha-reductase can be detected in adult rat testes when progesterone is used as substrate. The 5 alpha-reductase activity in 4-month-old rats and the inhibitory action of gossypol on steroidobiosynthesis were studied. Testicular sections (10 microns thickness) were incubated at 30.5 degrees C in the presence of NADPH with 3H-testosterone and cold testosterone as substrates (9 microM total), and with or without gossypol as the test sample and control, respectively. Endogenous testosterone level was evaluated by radioimmunoassay. Reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to separate the substrate and products. Components of interest were collected and their recovery monitored. At 200 microM concentration, gossypol significantly decreased dihydrotestosterone (DHT) formation by 21% when compared to that of control (0.6 pm/mg protein/min), and decreased 5 alpha-androstane-3 alpha,17 beta-diol formation by 35% vs control (2 pm/mg protein/min). In the current study, gossypol was found to have inhibitory effects of noncompetitive nature on 5 alpha-reductase, which catalyzes the conversion of testosterone to DHT, and on 3 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3 alpha-HSD), which interconverts DHT and dihydroandrostanediol.