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In order to investigate the presence of androgen insensitivity in patients with male infertility, intratubular androgen receptor (AR) was measured in patients with idiopathic oligozoospermia and azoospermia. The specimens were obtained by testicular biopsy or orchiectomy from 56 patients with oligozoospermia and 5 with azoospermia for clinical study, and 17 with varicocele, 22 with vas disorders and prostatic cancer, which had a mean germinal epithelium score count of 8.5 or greater by the method of Johnsen (JSC) for deciding the cut-off levels, as the control group. Intratubular AR was measured by a 5-point micro-receptor assay, an exchange assay with the DCC method, using 40 microliters of each sample extract and 3H-methyltrienolone as the ligand. The genital skin AR assay was also conducted simultaneously in 34 patients. The results were as follows: 1) No significant correlation was noted between intratubular ARs and genital skin ARs. 2) The maximum binding (Bmax) of AR in the total intratubular extract was intermediate between that of the cytosol fraction and the nuclear extract. 3) Significant correlation was noted between the Bmax of ARs by the micro-receptor assay and those by the conventional assay. 4) The Bmax of AR in the control group (n = 22) was 30.38 +/- 9.89 fmol/mg protein (mean +/- S.D.) and was over 11 fmol/mg protein in all cases. Therefore, 11 fmol/mg protein was decided as the cut-off level for androgen insensitivity. 5) Comparative studies were undertaken between two groups, i.e., low AR group and normal AR group, with AR as a parameter for male infertility.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The binding of [3H]dihydrotestosterone (17 beta-hydroxy-5 alpha-androstan-3-one) to the androgen receptor was studied in 26 prepubertal boys with isolated hypospadias (no associated anomaly) using fibroblasts cultured from surgical specimens of hypospadiac penile skin and/or chordal tissue. Maximal binding capacities of androgen receptor for [3H] dihydrotestosterone in 10 patients with mild degree (2 glandular + 8 penile), 6 with severe degree (4 penoscrotal + 2 scrotal), chordal tissues of hypospadias (N = 10), and controls (10 endocrinologically normal boys) were, respectively, 11750 +/- 2410, 10720 +/- 2680, 16100 +/- 7570, and 11570 +/- 3830 (mean +/- sd) sites per cell. Dissociation constants in these subjects were 1.09 +/- 0.29, 0.93 +/- 0.22, 1.20 +/- 0.31, and 1.22 +/- 0.41 x 10(-10) mol/l respectively. There were no significant differences as to both maximal binding capacity and dissociation constant of androgen receptor among any groups. Abnormal receptor thermolability was not found in 5 patients with severe degree of hypospadias either. It is, therefore, concluded that prepubertal boys with isolated hypospadias have primarily normal androgen receptor activity.