Changes of testicular cholesteryl ester hydrolase activity in experimentally cryptorchid rats

A simple and reliable method was developed to determine the neutral cholesteryl ester hydrolase (CEH) activity in rat testes, using cholesteryl-[1-14C]-oleate as substrate. The activity was due to a soluble enzyme present in the cytoplasm of predominantly Sertoli cells, which could be shown after depleting the testes of Leydig cells with ethane dimethyl sulphonate. This treatment also revealed that the loss of CEH activity in abdominal testes of experimentally cryptorchid rats takes place in the Sertoli cells. In prepubertal rats made unilaterally cryptorchid at birth, the CEH activity was significantly higher in the abdominal than in the scrotal testes at 16 days of age. This is earlier than any previously described biochemical change and coincides with, or may even precede, the earliest morphological changes which are accumulation of lipid droplets in the Sertoli cells. The testicular CEH activity then decreased to 30 days of age in the abdominal testes, whereas the activity increased in the contralateral, scrotal testes. When adult rats were made unilaterally cryptorchid for 24 h, the CEH activity decreased rapidly in the abdominal testes. These results suggest that a derangement in cholesteryl ester metabolism is an early event in the pathogenesis of testicular degeneration in cryptorchidism.