THE INFLUENCE OF SEX HORMONES ON THE TRANSAMINASES OF THE ACCESSORY SEX ORGANS OF THE MALE RAT*

Abstract

THE existence of multiple transaminating activities in the ventral prostate of the rat was recently demonstrated in this laboratory (Awapara and Seale, 1952). The role which the transamination reaction plays in intermediary metabolism of amino acids is not known precisely, but no doubt, it must be an important one. In addition to active transaminases, the ventral prostate possesses an unusually high concentration of free amino acids, a property not shared by the dorsal lobe. Some experiments on whole prostate carried out in this laboratory indicated that the concentration of free amino acids decreases considerably after castration and prostatic atrophy (Marvin and Awapara, 1949). Normal levels of free amino acids could be restored in the castrated animal by administering testosterone propionate. The origin and fate of free amino acids in the ventral prostate are not known. Oxidative deamination of alanine and glutamic acid has been found to proceed at negligible rates whereas transamination was found to be very active (Barron and Huggins, 1946).