Effect of testosterone on the amount of serous-like granules in convoluted tubular cells of mouse submandibular glands.

The effect of testosterone on the amount of granules present in convoluted tubular cells of the submadibular glands of mice was studied by the following two methods; 1) an immunochemical method using antiserum specific to the granular components, and 2) a histographic method. The results obtained by these two methods were in agreement. The amounts of the granules in normal female and castrated male mice were one-tenth to one-twentieth of that in normal male mice. When male mice were castrated, the amount of granules decreased, reaching a minimum 20 days after the aperation the injection of the male hormone, testosterone, into castrated male mice caused an increase in the amount of granules; this increase reached a maximum 15 days after the injection. The increase of granules caused by testosterone injection was almost completely prevented by inhibitors of protein synthesis, actinomycin D and puromycin. This suggests that protein synthesis was indispensable to the increase in the amount of granules. In male mice, the injection of female hormones scarcely affected the amount of granules. Kinetic analysis of the decrease and increase of granules on castration and testosterone injection suggested that the male hormone stimulated granule synthesis, but it hardly influenced the loss of granules.