Catecholamines stimulate testicular steroidogenesis in vitro in the Siberian hamster, Phodopus sungorus.

We have examined direct effects of catecholamines on testicular testosterone production in a seasonally breeding species, the Siberian hamster, Phodopus sungorus. Testicular parenchyma from gonadally active long photoperiod (LD)-exposed and gonadally regressed short photoperiod (SD)-exposed animals was incubated for 6 h with norepinephrine, epinephrine, beta-adrenoceptor agonist isoproterenol, or alpha-adrenoreceptor agonist phenylephrine (all at 10 microM), as well as with various concentrations of norepinephrine (10 nM-10 microM), and 10 microM norepinephrine with or without hCG (0.7, 3.1, and 12.5 mIU/ml). In addition, effects of alpha-adrenoreceptor antagonist prazosin and beta-adrenoreceptor antagonist propranolol (50 microM) were tested in the incubations containing 10 microM norepinephrine. In the incubations of testes from both LD and SD Siberian hamsters, norepinephrine was most effective in stimulating testosterone production, followed by epinephrine and phenylephrine, while isoproterenol failed to increase testosterone accumulation. The stimulatory effects of norepinephrine were dose-dependent and were prevented by coincubation with prazosin, but not affected by coincubation with propranolol. In combination with various doses of hCG, norepinephrine failed to stimulate testosterone production above the levels obtained with hCG alone. These data indicate that the testicular receptors mediating the action of catecholamines on testicular steroidogenesis in Phodopus sungorus are of the alpha 1-subtype, a result in accordance with a previous study in the golden hamster. However, the results of the present study are strikingly different from the findings obtained in the golden hamster in terms of the effects of photoperiod on the responsiveness of testicular steroidogenesis to catecholamines.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)