ESTROGEN AND PROGESTERONE-RECEPTOR MESSENGER-RNA ARE EXPRESSED IN DISTINCT PATTERN IN MALE PRIMATE REPRODUCTIVE-ORGANS

Purpose: The role(s) of estrogens (E) and progesterone (P) in male rep roductive physiology remain unclear. Estrogens are used in the treatme nt of prostatic cancer. Progestins have been used to control excessive sexual behavior in men, and proposed as a male contraceptive. Previou s immunohistochemical studies have shown that E receptors (ER) are pre sent in the reproductive tract of male nonhuman primates. Method: We e xamined the expression pattern of ER and progesterone receptor (PR) mR NA in adult primate male reproductive tract. mRNA was extracted from m ale pituitary, testis, prostate and different regions of the epididymi s of three intact adult cynomolgous monkeys. Ovarian, myometrial and s pleen mRNA were used as controls. Reverse transcriptase polymerase cha in reaction (RT-PCR) was used to amplify ER and PR mRNA; beta-actin mR NA was used as a reference. Primers for ER, PR and beta-actin were des igned using the most conserved areas in the corresponding human cDNA s equences, and the identity of the PCR products was verified using Sout hern hybridization. Semiquantitative analysis of ER and PR mRNA conten t in different parts of the male reproductive tract was carried out by spiking the PCR reaction with P-33-dCTP, and amplifying the samples f or 20 cycles with the beta-actin primers, whereas 30 cycles were used for ER and PR.