IMMUNOCYTOCHEMICAL LOCALIZATION OF ANDROGEN RECEPTORS IN BRAINS OF DEVELOPING AND ADULT MALE RHESUS-MONKEYS

We localized immunoreactive androgen receptors in the central nervous system (CNS) of fetal and adult male rhesus macaques by immunocytochem isty using an affinity-purified polyclonal antibody to the first 21 am ino acids of the human androgen receptor (AR). This antibody caused a shift in the mobility of AR-bound H-3-DHT on a sucrose gradient and re cognized a protein of approx 116 kDa on Western blot. Other criteria f or specificity are presented, We localized AR in the diencephalon of m ale rhesus monkey fetuses. Immunoreactive neurons were found in the me dial hypothalamic area and the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamu s on days 47, 61, and 124 of gestation. At 124 d of gestation, AR immu noreactivity was also found in the arcuate nucleus. AR immunostaining was not found in other diencephalic structures in fetal life, includin g the preoptic area. In the adult monkey, neurons in ventromedial, dor somedial, and arcuate nuclei of the hypothalamus; cortical, medial, an d accessory basal nuclei of the amygdala; and regions of the hippocamp us and the anterior pituitary gland contained immunoreactive AR. These data indicate that AR is found in specific areas of the CNS early in fetal development, but they also appear in other brain areas as the fe tus grows. At 124 d of gestation (term, 167 d), the hypothalamic locat ion of immunoreactive AR is similar to the adult.