Cyproterone Acetate induced Changes in the Behaviour of Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenases in Rat Leydig Cells during Perinatal Development*

The influence of cyproterone acetate (CA) upon the behaviour of hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases (HSDH) in the Wistar rat Leydig cells was investigated during the perinatal phase with the help of enzymhistochemical cum morphometrical techniques. The pregnant rats as well as their offsprings were injected with CA (dosage: 35 mg/kg body wt) sc, daily from 14 fetal day upto 31 postnatal day (p.n.d.). The animals were killed on 5, 20, and 32 p.n.d.; the enzymhistochemical reactions for 3-beta-HSDH, 11-beta-HSDH, 17-HSDH and 3-alpha-HSDH were performed in the cryostat sections of the testis, and the morphometric evaluation of HSDH positive Leydig cells was carried out. On 5 p.n.d. the activity of 17-beta-HSDH was slightly impaired in the intertubular Leydig cells of the CA treated animals. On 20 p.n.d., CA prevented nearly completely the HSDH activity in the newsly built peritubular Leydig cells; the activities of 3-beta-HSDH, 17-beta-HSDH, and 3-alpha-HSDH resided mainly in the intertubular Leydig cells. On 32 p.n.d. the HSDH activities in the Leydig cells were observed in the control as well as in treated animals. It seems that the differentiation of peritubular Leydig cells, and thereby the steroid production, is delayed by CA, but not entirely blocked.