[The regulation of male sexual behavior by the sex hormones]. / Reguliatsiia muzhskogo seksual'nogo povedeniia polovymi gormonami.

The article provides a review of the clinical and experimental data, both published and the author's own observations. They demonstrate that the hormone regulation of sex behaviour takes place at the central and the peripheral levels. The major role is played by androgenes, of which testosterone is the main regulator of sex appeal (libido, courtship behaviour in animals), while the most important regulator of ejaculation, in particular, of the time of ejaculation, is the non-aromatized androgene dihydrotestosterone (DHT). There is no rigid correlation between the level of sex activity and the level of androgenes, if the latter are within the normal individual and physiological range. However, both in case of hypo- and hyperendrogeny, the observations indicate depression of sexuality, though the mechanism of the depression are different. The author established the optimal levels of androgenes, which maintain the individual elements of the sexual act. The role of estrogene in regulation of the male sex appeal is not yet clear. As a rule, use of estrogenes results in depression of the male sexuality. At the same time, combination of DHT and estradiole (in laboratory and productive animals) leads to normalisation of erection and ejaculation disorders. These result is, probably, due to the central effect of estrogene, which prolongs the DHT effect and censures its accelerated penetration into cellular neuronal structures, as well as to the peripheral effect of DHT.

[Sex differences in the consequences of the hormonal treatment of male rats for their progeny]. / Polovye razlichiia v posledstviiakh gormonal'noi obrabotki samtsov krys dlia ikh potomstva.

The effects on male rats of single injections of androgens have been shown; this paper considers the responses of the immune and genital systems. The consequences for the progeny, with special reference to their sex and age, of androgenization of the father are considered in a comparative aspect. Deviations have been recorded in physical and sexual development, as well as in the genital system, in the progeny of both sexes. Furthermore, the male progeny is characterized by increased reactivity of the thymus.

[The consequences of physical loading in puberty for lactation]. / Posledstviia fizicheskikh nagruzok v pubertatnom periode dlia laktatsii.

Consequences of physical loads in pre- and puberty periods told both on the rats and their litter. Adaptation to physical load occurring with participation of the androgen told negatively on the mammo- and lactopoiesis.

[The effect of grofollon on the induction of sex maturation in female rats]. / Vliianie grofollona na induktsiiu polovozrelosti u krys-samok.

The authors provide the results of experimental studies carried out in immature female rats given the gonadotropin grofollon to stimulate puberty. Grofollon was administered in doses of 20, 30 or 50 units. It was dissolved in a physiological solution or prolongon. The effect of grofollon was found to depend on the dose and type of the solvent. The earliest response (in 6 hours) to grofollon administration was marked by an increase of plasma estradiol. 24 hours after the hormonal treatment there was a rise of the mass of the ovaries and uterus, in particular. The vagina opened on the 3d day. The dissolution of grofollon in prolongon was discovered to enhance the drug efficacy.

[Interrelationship of thyroid and sex functions in males]. / Vzaimodeistvie tireodnoi i polovoi funktsii v muzhskom organizme.

The purpose of this experiment was to study on intact and castrated male rats the aftereffects of administration of different androgens for thyroid function as well as the effect of experimental thyrotoxin toxicosis on sex gland incretion and the hormonal status of castrated animals receiving substitution androgenic therapy. The level of hormones was determined by a radioimmunoassay: Castration was shown to be accompanied by suppression of thyroid function, and the administration of androgens activated it. Aromatized testosterone (but not non-aromatized dehydrotestosterone) enhanced thyroxin transformation into T3 and prevented castration-induced estrogenization. Hyperthyroxinemia in castrated animals was accompanied by an increase in progesterone and estradiol concentrations. Hyperestrogenization increased with a parallel administration of androgen. Negative correlation between TSH and sex hormones levels was noted. During thyroxin toxicosis sex hormones served as modulators of hypophyseo-thyroid relationships.

[Testosterone-inhibin interaction in male sterility]. / Testosteron-ingibinovoe vzaimodeistvie pri muzhskom besplodii.

The purpose of investigation was to define the role of hormones, circulating in the peripheral blood and contained in the seminal fluid of an ejaculate, in the pathogenesis of sterility. Men under 40 with a secretory type of sterility were investigated. A decrease in testosterone concentration with a high level of estradiol was observed in peripheral blood. Blood inhibin activity was low in healthy persons and in patients (though higher in the latter). LH and prolactin levels were raised in the absence of changes in FSH and cortisol concentrations. The level of testosterone in the seminal plasma was much lower than in peripheral blood whereas inhibin activity was higher in all examinees. Blood concentration of testosterone in healthy subjects and sterile patients was shown to have a positive correlation with the concentration of spermatozoa and their mobility. Testosterone concentration in the seminal plasma was reflected, to a lesser degree, in spermograms than in peripheral blood. The activity of circulating and seminal inhibin showed reverse correlation with the concentration of spermatozoa in healthy subjects; such a correlation in patients was observed only with blood inhibin. In the activity of spermatozoons negative correlation was observed in healthy subjects only. Disorder of the above correlation was revealed against a background of the high activity of inhibin that could determine sterility.

[The role of prolactin in the pathogenesis of male sterility]. / Rol' prolaktina v patogeneze muzhskogo besplodiia.

To study the causal relationship between the hormonal status and spermatographic data in sterile males, the authors investigated the correlations between the plasma levels of testosterone, estradiol, prolactin and gonadotrophin and certain parameters of spermograms and computed the correlative relationship of those values. The findings demonstrated the increased levels of prolactin (249.09 +/- 39.6 mu/U/ml), significantly exceeding the normal (132.6 +/- 32.4 mu/U/ml), a tendency towards a decrease in the levels of FSH and testosterone (up to 7.01 +/- 0.70 nmol/l versus 12.57 +/- 0.39 nmol/l in health) and manifest elevation of estradiol levels (up to 634.71 +/- 29.16 nmol/l versus 205.02 +/- 18.60 nmol/l), as well as its ratio to the testosterone levels. The number of spermatozoa in 1 ml was found decreased up to 29.6 +/- 4.10 million, the volume of ejaculate was reduced to 2.7 +/- 0.41 ml, while the percentage of immobile spermatozoa rose to 40.00 +/- 4.76. Despite of some pathological changes evidenced by spermograms, there was the only parameter--the volume of ejaculate--that was directly dependent on the levels of prolactin, their correlation was reversed. Decreased numbers of spermatozoa and their motility were not related to hyperprolactinemia. Moreover, there was a positive correlation between the levels of prolactin and the motility of spermatozoa in sterile patients. Therefore, decreased number and motility of spermatozoa turned to be dependent not on prolactin but sex hormone levels. However, ejaculation was found unfeasible in male with high levels of hyperprolactinemia.

[The effect of prolactin and bromocriptine on testicular incretory function]. / Vliianie prolaktina i bromokriptina na inkretornuiu funktsiiu iaichka.

Prolactin (PRL) is synthesized by lactotropic pituitary cells. The corresponding hormonal preparations is dispensed as lactin. Bromocriptine is a dopamine agonist, dopamine being a natural inhibitor of PRL-secretion. PRL receptors in the testis are located on the interstitial cells. PRL effect on the testis depends on the age and species of animals. In the immature animals as well as in the photoperiodic ones PRL stimulates the testis development and the testicular secretion; bromocriptine decreases androgen concentration. In the postpubertal animals PRL is a melatonin antagonist in the dark time but LH synergist at the exposure to light. A high PRL concentration inhibits gonadoliberin formation, LH secretion; testosterone concentration and especially dihydrotestosterone concentration decrease (or do not change) with an elevation of estradiol level that on the whole results in feminization. The cerebral transmitters promoting or inhibiting sexual behavior are involved in the interaction with PRL. Administration of PRL, experimental or pathological hyperprolactinemia are followed by the suppression of ejaculation. Bromocriptine (parlodel) appears to be a pathogenetic therapeutic agent in hyperprolactinemia.

[Physiologic basis for the "attractiveness" of female rats for males]. / Fiziologicheskoe obosnovanie "privlekatel'nosti" krys samok dlia samtsov.

Sexual behaviour of intact male rats was studied in tests with ovariectomized female rats and with those injected with sexual hormones. The data obtained support the hypothesis of the existence of central and peripheral mechanisms regulating the sexual behaviour of male rats. The treatment of castrated females with androgen resulted in males sniffing at them mor often, the copulatory behaviour being only observed in tests with females treated with estrogens in combination with progesterone.

[Inhibin activity of the organs of the male reproductive system in rats treated with dihydrotestosterone]. / Aktivnost' ingibina organov muzhskoi reproduktivnoi sistemy krys v usloviiakh obrabotki digidrotestosteronom.

The content of protein hormone, inhibin, in the rat testis and prostate has been studied on preadolescent female mice. Both organs were characterized by a certain inhibin activity, it being higher in the prostate. A single injection of 25 mu kg dihydrotestosterone (DHT) to rats has been followed by the increase in testicular and prostate mass, elevation of 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone and testosterone levels in peripheral blood, and a slight rise in inhibin testicular activity, with the lack of these changes in the prostate. The detection of inhibin in the prostate confirms possible direct link of the organ with the pituitary body. DHT effect on spermatogenesis has been but insignificantly related to FSH depression.

[Effect of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone on the sexual behavior of female rats]. / Vliianie testosterona i digidrotestosterona na polovoe povedenie krys-samok.

Sexual behaviour was tested in female rats with ovariectomy treated with various sexual hormones and healthy male rats with sexual experience. There was a marked suppression of receptive behaviour in rats with ovariectomy but the proceptive one was preserved. A marked growth of lordosis, achieving the level of that in intact rats in estrus is observed after the administration of estradiol propionate (10 micrograms) and progesterone (500 micrograms). A single subcutaneous administration of testosterone dipropionate (100 micrograms) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) with DHT-propionate (10 micrograms) to ovariectomized rats did not stimulate lordosis but preserved a high level of proceptive behaviour. Disconnections in the character of proceptive and mating behaviour show that different mechanisms are in the base of their regulation. No difference was noted in the effect of testosterone and DHT on sexual behaviour. The administration of DHT induced certain aggressiveness in the animals. No dynamics was observed in the character of the studied indicators for 3 days. The lack of differences in testosterone and DHT action on sexual behaviour of female rats shows that intracerebral aromatization is not obligatory for the manifestation of the effect.