Androgens in the Bovine Testis and Spermatic Vein Blood

BULL testis is the organ from which testosterone was first isolated nearly twenty-five years ago 1 . Information is still scarce, however, on the hormone content of this gland at various stages of the animal's development, nor is it known at what age androgenic steroids are first secreted by the gonads in appreciable amounts. Hooker 2 was able to demonstrate the presence of unidentified androgenic material in the testes of prepuberal calves by bioassay. Recent evidence, derived from the chemical analysis of seminal plasma and accessory secretions, indicates that already at the early age of 4–5 months a source of androgens must be present in bull calves, sufficient to induce specific secretory activity in the male accessory glands 3 . The present study was intended to supplement these observations by direct determination of androgenic steroids in the testicular tissue and the spermatic vein blood of the bull.