Changes in serum α2u-globulin levels in castrated male rats treated with testosterone propionate in a Hershberger assay

✍ Scribed by Masahiro Takeyoshi; Hideo Mitoma; Kanji Yamasaki

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 66 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0260-437X
• DOI: 10.1002/jat.1038

✦ Synopsis

The Hershberger assay has been proposed as a candidate screening test method for the detection of androgenic and anti-androgenic chemicals and is being validated presently under the test guideline programme of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Rat α α α α α 2u -globulin is male rat-specific protein appearing in their serum and urine, and the protein is known to be induced by androgens. We investigated the usefulness of measuring serum α α α α α 2u -globulin levels as a parameter for the androgenic activity of chemicals tested in the Hershberger assay. The serum α α α α α 2u -globulin level was measured after the administration of testosterone propionate at dosages of 0, 20, 100 or 500 µ µ µ µ µg kg -1 day -1 for ten consecutive days in the castrated male rats. The ventral prostate, balbocavernosus/levator ani muscles, glans penis and Cowper's gland were collected and weighed. Although all the androgen-responsive organ weights were increased significantly at dosages of 100 and 500 µ µ µ µ µg kg - --

, the serum α α α α α 2u -globulin level was increased significantly only at a dosage of 500 µ µ µ µ µg kg - ----1 day - ----1

. These results show that the serum α α α α α 2u -globulin level may be a useful biomarker for detecting androgenic activity caused by test chemicals, but it is less sensitive than the organ weights of androgen-responsive tissues in the Hershberger assay.