Evidence of androgen receptivity in the pathway of testicular descent in humans. A postnatal study.

The aim of this study was to detect androgen receptors in paratesticular tissue in an attempt to explain a possible mechanism of effect for hormone treatment in undescended testes. A total of 45 biopsies from the gubernaculum testis, musculus cremaster, processus vaginalis and subcutaneous fascia were taken from 13 patients aged 4 months-65 years. All biopsies were instantly frozen in liquid N2 in Norway and later transported to Hamburg for analysis. By using various procedures for stabilization and separation, cytosol was prepared which contained all primary intranuclear and extranuclear androgen receptors. R1881 was used as radioligand. The validity of the procedure was controlled with rat prostate. A full saturation analysis was obtained according to Scatchard. The musculus cremaster was the only structure examined which contained androgen receptors. The results indicate that endocrine treatment in undescended testes is effective in retractile testes only.