Studies on the correlation between androgen binding and activation of rat epididymal tubules in culture

Rat epididymal tubules maintained in organ culture for 3 or 7 days in media containing androgen showed a marked increase in the incorporation of radioactive amino acids and uridine into acid insoluble material. When the tubules were exposed to these hormones for brief periods, the incorporation of precursors was inhibited initially. In studying the time course of binding of 3H testosterone to the cytoplasmic receptor, a significant amount of radioactivity bound to the receptor was detected only after 12 hr of exposure to the hormone which increased three-fold after 24 hr. The time lag in the binding corresponded closely to the shortest times of observed hormone action wherein a significant increase in the incoporation of uridine (16 hr) and amino acids (24 hr) was produced. Evidence is presented demonstrating that testosterone is bound with high affinity by components of the fetal calf serum present in the culture medium.