Effects of age at vasectomy on corticosterone production by the rat testes

The ability of the testicular interstitium to assume a certain degree of adrenocortical-like activity, and the concomitant changes in adreno-gonadal status, 100 days post-vasectomy, were investigated in rats (50 and 150 days of age, at start). The transformation of 11-deoxycorticosterone (1,2-H3) to corticosterone (1,2-H3), by the testicular homogenates, was used as an index of 11 beta-steroid hydroxylase activity in the Leydig cells. The extent of ascorbic acid depletion in the adrenals and testes, and the plasma and testicular levels of corticosterone, were assayed, to examine the adreno-testicular participation in corticosteroidogenesis. Vasectomy in younger rats, as compared to older rats, resulted in a significant increase in the transformation of deoxycorticosterone to corticosterone, and higher plasma corticosterone levels. It appears that vasectomy, at a younger age, is capable of inducing adrenocortical-like activity in the testicular interstitium.