[A study on genital skin androgen receptor by dispersed cell method]

We have measured androgen receptor in whole cell, cytosol and nuclear fractions of cultured skin fibroblasts originated from the genital area. Samples were obtained from the following patients: 10 boys with phimosis, 5 boys with cryptorchism, 4 boys and a man with hypospadia, 2 infertile men and 3 normal men. Androgen receptor was measured using methyltrienolone (R1881) as the ligand according to the assay technique of Eil et al. using dispersed cell method. The results were as follows: 1. There were no significant statistical differences in the dissociation constant among the diseases. 2. Hypospadia cases showed lower maximum binding capacities (Bmax) of whole cell than phimotic boys but the difference was not statistically significant. 3. The Bmax of normal men were statistically higher than those of phimotic boys and about 80% of these receptors were seen in the nuclear fraction. We also experienced low Bmax levels in an adult hypospadia case and two infertile men. These results suggest that this method is a simple and rapid method to study both nuclear and cytosol androgen receptor at the same time. It is also suggested that there are some cases with reduced androgen receptor levels in hypospadia and infertile cases.