Testosterone precursors in spermatic venous blood of normal men and varicocele patients.A study of delta-4-patway of testosterone biosynthesis

In the present study we determined progesterone (P), 17-OH-progesterone (17-OH-P), androstenedione (delta 4), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and testosterone (T) in spermatic venous blood of 34 varicocele patients and of 13 normal subjects. We also used the DHEA/delta 4 ratio as an index of the delta 5/delta 4 pathway ratio in testosterone biosynthesis. The mean of T and delta 4 in the spermatic blood of varicocele (V) patients appeared to be significantly lower with respect to that of normal (N) subjects (T:N = 1718.2 +/- 202.4 (SEM) nmol/l, No. 11; V = 1243.7 +/- 97 (SEM) nmol/l, No. 34; P less than 0.03. delta 4: N = 56.4 +/- 5.6 (SEM) nmol/l, No. 12; V = 38.1 +/- 4 (SEM) nmol/l, No. 27, 0.02 greater than P greater than 0.01). A negative correlation was observed between the individual age of varicocele patients and 17-OH-P (No. 34, y = -30.66x + 1300, r = -0.57, P less than 0.01) delta 4 values (No. 27, y = -1.981x + 96.52, r = -0.67, P less than 0.01). When the ratio of T precursors was evaluated, we observed a positive correlation between the P/17-OH-P ratio and age of varicocele (No. 33, y = 0.0065x-0.092, r = 0.45, P less than 0.03). The 17-OH-P/delta 4 ratio was greatly increased with respect to that of normal subjects (N = 5.12 +/- 0.93 (SEM), No. 12; V = 10.77 +/- 1.31 (SEM), No. 27; P less than 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)