Androgen-Binding Protein in the Seminal Plasma of Some Mammalian Species

Faculté des Sciences, Laboratoire de Physiologie Comparée, Parc de Grandmont, 37200 Tours, France and * I.N.R.A., Station de Physiologie de la Reproduction, 37380 Nouzilly, France (Received 22 November 1977) An androgen-binding protein has been demonstrated in the seminal plasma of the ram (Jegou, 1976), but nothing is known about the existence of such a protein in the seminal plasma of other mammalian species. In the present study, samples of seminal plasma from men, stallions, boars, goats, bulls and rams were examined for 5α-dihydrotestosterone (5α-DHT)-binding activity using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Ejaculates were collected from animals in artificial vaginae and from men by masturbation. Spermatozoa were removed by centrifugation at 1500 g for 15 min at 4 °C and the seminal plasma was stored at − 20 °C until used. After extraction of endogenous steroids by charcoal treatment (10 mg/ml seminal plasma for 30 min at 4 °C), all samples were incubated