Tyrosine protein kinase activity in purified rat Leydig cells

Tyrosine protein kinase activity has been estimated in purified testicular cells with the synthetic peptide substrate NH2-GLU-ASP-ALA-GLU-TYR-ALA-ALA-ARG-ARG-ARG-GLY-COOH. High levels of enzyme specific activity (56-165 pmol/mg/min) were found in the two populations of Leydig cells isolated by Metrizamide gradient centrifugation. Some activity was also detected in germinal cells, red cells and seminiferous tubules from testis but at levels 6-20 times lower than those found in the Leydig cell fractions. Higher levels of tyrosine protein kinase specific activity were found in population I than in population II Leydig cells.