HORMONAL EFFECTS IN VITRO ON RIBONUCLEIC ACID POLYMERASE IN NUCLEI ISOLATED FROM HUMAN PROSTATIC TISSUE

in Journal of Endocrinology
Authors:
P. DAVIES
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K. GRIFFITHS
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Various metabolites of testosterone, compounds such as 5α-dihydrotestosterone and the 5α-androstanediols, appear to have specific roles in eliciting certain of the androgenic responses (Baulieu, Lasnitzki & Robel, 1968 a, b). Furthermore, some of these compounds can stimulate in vitro the activity of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase (nucleoside triphosphate-RNA nucleotidyltransferase, EC 2.7.7.6) of nuclei prepared from rat and dog prostatic tissue (Davies, Fahmy, Pierrepoint & Griffiths, 1972). To investigate this matter further, the effects of a series of testosterone metabolites on the RNA polymerase activity isolated from specimens of tissue from patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy (bph) were studied, and the inhibitory effects of various stilboestrol derivatives were also investigated.

Human bph specimens, obtained immediately after prostatectomy, were homogenized using a Latapie press in combination with a Potter—Elvehjem homogenizer. Nuclei were purified from homogenates by centrifugation through discontinuous gradients of hypertonic sucrose (0·8–·8–2·1 mol/l) and were judged free of cytoplasmic fragments by

 

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