Prolonged influence of a neonatal cyproterone acetate treatment on renal androgen binding in mice

To determine whether neonatal endogenous androgens influence adult renal androgen binding, newborn male mice were injected from 1 to 10 days of age with cyproterone acetate and newborn females with testosterone from 1 to 10 days and from 20 to 40 days of age. In controls, at adulthood, the total cellular androgen receptor content was significantly higher in males (1700 +/- 200 receptors per cell) than in females (1060 +/- 50) and, as expected, the nuclear receptor content was 12-fold higher in males. While the total number of receptors (1650 +/- 200 per cell) was unchanged in adult males neonatally treated with cyproterone acetate, their distribution between cytosol and nucleus was similar to that in control females despite normal circulating and renal testosterone levels. The nuclear receptors represented 50, 7 and 11% of the total receptors in control males, control females and cyproterone acetate-treated males, respectively. The very low levels of nuclear receptors present in the kidney of cyproterone acetate-treated males probably explain the decreased sensitivity of this organ to testosterone. The nuclear receptor accumulation measured in adult animals after a single injection of testosterone did not seem to be affected by neonatal hormonal manipulations.