The effect of acute stress and opioid antagonist on the activity of NADPH-P450 reductase in rat Leydig cells.

Previous studies indicate that acute immobilization stress (IMO; 2 h) impaired testicular steroidogenesis primarily at the testicular level decreasing the activity of certain steroidogenic enzymes. In the present study unstressed rats as well as IMO rats (2 h) were treated by intratesticular injection of naltrexone methobromide (NMB; peripheral opioid receptor antagonist; 36 microg/testis) or vehicle at the beginning of and at 1 h of the IMO period. In IMO rats the activity of P450c17 was significantly reduced as well as the activity of NADPH-P450 reductase (which catalyzes the transfer of electrons from NADPH to cytochrome P450), while the activity of NADH-b5 reductase was not affected. Present data confirmed previous results that acute IMO reduced testicular P450c17 activity and implicate that decreased activity of NADPH-P450 reductase could be responsible for the inhibition of P450c17 under IMO conditions, while NADH-b5 reductase is probably not involved. NMB treatment antagonized the inhibitory effect of IMO on P450c17 and NADPH-P450 reductase activities. Such results put forward the implication that endogenous opioid peptides are involved in mediating the inhibitory effect of IMO on testicular steroidogenesis, and allow the speculation that NADPH-P450 reductase could be a possible site of such an inhibition.