Estrogen and Androgen Productionin Vitrofrom 7-3H-Progesterone by Normal and Polycystic Rat Ovaries1

In vitro conversion of 7-3Hprogesterone to estrogens and androgens by ovaries of normal and testosterone-sterilized rats (TSR) was studied. Ovaries were obtained from 21- to 350-day-old rats. In incubations of ovaries from normal rats, modest estrogen formation, but no conversion to androgens, could be demonstrated. A marked change in steroidogenesis was demonstrable in the polycystic ovary of the adult TSR; conversion to estradiol and estrone was increased, and testosterone and androstenedione accumulated in appreciable amounts. A pattern of ovarian steroidogenesis similar to that of the TSR was found in older control rats which spontaneously developed prolonged vaginal cornification. At 21 and 28 days of age, no significant difference between the 2 groups was detected. The primary derangement induced by the neonatal administration of testosterone is most probably an alteration in central nervous system regulation of gonadotropin secretion. The findings in the present study are therefore interpreted as evidence that polycystic ovaries with an abnormal pattern of steroidogenesis may be established as a result of stimulation by an abnormal pattern of gonadotropin. (Endocrinology77: 735, 1965)