Stimulation of testosterone production by isolated rabbit ovarian follicles in the presence of luteinizing hormone and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride

Luteinizing hormone (LH) causes a dramatic increase in steroidogenesis by isolated rabbit follicles which secrete testosterone as a major product. In order to determine whether the source of this testosterone could be from stores of cholesterol esters rabbit follicles were incubated with LH and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) an inhibitor of cholesterol esterase. No inhibition of testosterone production could be detected in the presence of PMSF indicating that cholesterol esters are not precursors for testosterone synthesis by rabbit follicles.