Strain differences in target organ weight changes among mice treated with androgens

When raised together in a controlled environment, 26 inbred strains of mice differed considerably in weights of seminal vesicles (SV), submandibular glands (SG), and tests in healthy males 100 days of age. In representative strains (high, medium, and low weight SV) castrate mature males administered various regimens of identical doses of exogenous androgen gave SV and SG weights that increased with increasing androgen and maintained weights in similar rank order to those in untreated animals. The relative stability of these differences suggests the usefulness of these animals for models to study the biochemical and cellular mechanisms of target organ sensitivity to androgen and perhaps to suggest genetic influences or susceptibilities to hormonally induced or dependent pathology in animals and man.