Search for progesterone receptors in testes from various animal species.

Using [3H]R5020 as binding probe, we have looked for the presence of progesterone receptors in testis cytosol from a few vertebrate species ranging from the turtles to the humans. In addition, we have tested in the rat several experimental conditions potentially susceptible to induce progesterone receptors. With the exception of chicken, tfm patients and possibly the frogs, progesterone receptors could not be conclusively demonstrated in any of the other animal species tested nor could they be induced in the rat. Surprisingly, they were not present in Stanley-Grumbeck pseudohermaphrodite rats. In chicken testes, the levels of progesterone receptor were variable (3--45 fmol per mg prot.) in the adults and high (87 fmol per mg prot.) in one-day-old animals. The presence of progesterone receptor, a marker of estradiol action in many estrogen-target tissues, seems to be parallel to the capacity of chicken testes for sex reversal under the influence of estrogens. In human tfm, the presence of these receptors could also indicate that the gonads are estrogen-sensitive or that they were so during embryonic life although the nature of estrogenic action is not known.