Presence of low affinity estrogen binding sites in guinea-pig Kurloff cells

Estrogen treatment of guinea-pig leads to an increase in the number of lymphoid cells containing Kurloff inclusions. The presence of estradiol binding sites in cytosolic extracts of Kurloff cells was investigated. We confirm here our previous inability to measure the typical type I estrogen receptor by using the classical dextran-charcoal procedure to separate bound and free ligand. We report now that low affinity estrogen binding sites (Kd approximately equal to 11 nM) can be detected when Kurloff cell extracts were fractionated on hydroxylapatite or Sephadex LH-20 after binding assay. Although the real function of these binding sites remains to be defined, the question arises again whether Kurloff cell represents a target cell for estrogens.