[Effect of testosterone concentration on the intensity of 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone and 17beta-oestradiol formation].

The culture of human male foreskin fibroblasts was incubated with various concentrations of testosterone in the medium. It has been shown that the minimum formation of 17beta-oestradiol and 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone occurs at physiological testosterone concentrations. Any deviation of testosterone concentration, both up and down, was accompanied by an increase in the formation of 17beta-oestradiol and 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone.

Androgen administration in middle-aged and ageing men: effects of oral testosterone undecanoate on dihydrotestosterone, oestradiol and prostate volume.

The gradual reduction of plasma testosterone in middle-aged and older men from mid-life onwards coincides paradoxically with the time when there is progressive growth of the prostate, a highly androgen-dependent organ. The growing interest in androgen therapy for older men makes it essential to understand the effects of exogenous testosterone on the non-diseased prostate, yet few studies are available. The present study examined prostate volume, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and lower urinary tract symptom (IPSS) score in 207 men, aged 40-83 years, presenting with clinical features of age-related androgen deficiency [sexual and/or urinary dysfunction, elevated lutenizing hormone (LH)] who were treated for 6 months with oral testosterone undecanoate (TU). Men were divided into two groups, group 1 (n=92, plasma testosterone levels > 13 nmol/L) were treated with 80 mg daily; group 2 (n=115, plasma testosterone levels < 13 nmol/L) were treated with given 120 mg daily. Before treatment and after 1, 3 and 6 months of treatment, prostate volume was measured by ultrasound and hormones [testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, oestradiol, LH, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)] and PSA were measured. Within 1 month of treatment, the elevated blood LH levels were markedly decreased in all men in group 1, as well as most men in group 2. Group 2 was subdivided into men whose LH levels were suppressed (n=95, group 2a) and those whose LH levels did not suppress (n=20, group 2b). Men in group 1 and 2a had marked decreases in prostate volume, PSA and lower urinary tract symptom (IPSS) scores whereas no significant changes were observed in group 2b. Groups 1 and 2a also had more striking suppression of LH, FSH, dihydrotestosterone and oestradiol whereas group 2b had no significant increases in blood testosterone concentrations. These findings suggest that exogenous testosterone in middle-aged and older men with some clinical features of age-related androgen deficiency can retard or reverse prostate growth and that elevated plasma LH may be a useful index of severity of age-related androgen deficiency.

[Effects of cystamine on the state of glutathione system]. / Vliianie tsistamina na sostoianie sistemy glutationa.

The action of cystamine on the glutathione system state in the erythrocytes of the peripheral blood, in the tissues of the brain and liver of the rats are studied. It was shown that the most changes in the glutathione content and activity of the glutathione metabolism enzymes are seen in the brain on the height of the cystamine protective action. The high concentration of reduced forms of the glutathione and the increasing activity of the glutathione peroxidase held in the liver for 5-th days after the intraperitoneal injection of the cystamine.

[The subcellular distribution of the glutathione system enzymes in the brain tissue of the rat]. / Subkletochnyoe raspredelenie fermentov sistemy glutationa v tkani golovnogo mozga krysy.

Using the percoll density gradient method for rapid isolation of organelles the distribution of glutathione system enzymes in the rat brain was characterized including glutathione S-transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and glutathione reductase (GR). In the fraction of mitochondria, the shares of GPx, GR, and GST were found to be as much as 92, 61, and 15% from their respective general activities. No enzymatic activity was found in lysosomes. Fractions of organelles with low density (microsomes, Golgi complex, cytoplasmic membranes) were cross-contaminated. Nevertheless, on the base of the established dynamics of distribution of the marker enzyme activity among various cell organelles it is suggested that, besides mitochondria, the glutathione system enzymes may be localized primarily in the endoplasmic reticulum, rather than in other organelles.