Smnmary--We describe here an/n vitro technique to assess the estrogenic activity of chemicals. This technique is based on rainbow trout hepatocytes incubated in a basic medium free of any additional growth factors or estrogenic chemicals and uses the production of vitellogenin (VTG) as a marker for the estrogenic potency of the compounds tested. The system allows at least some of the metabolic transformations which are undertaken by the liver cells/n vivo and could therefore be used for xenobiotic compounds which exhibit estrogenic activities after liver metabolic transformation. A dose-response curve was always consistently obtained using estradiol-17fl (E2), with a mid point at around 100 nME 2 and a maximum response at around 1000nM. Established estrogens such as 17al ethynylestradiol (EE2) or diethylstilboestrol (DES) were also tested. EE 2 appeared to be equipotent with E2 and DES slightly less potent. E2 conjugates were, perhaps surprisingly, also very potent. Estradiol-3-sulfate was equipotent with E2 and estradiol-17fl-glucuronide approx. 10% as potent. Other steroids such as androgens and progesterone, though active in the bioassay, were 3 orders of magnitude less potent than E 2. Of the various steroids tested, only cortisol, at concentrations up to 50 #M, was completely inactive. Six different phytoestrogens were tested in the assay. All were weakly estrogenic, possessing approximately one thousanth the potency of E 2 (they were as potent as the androgens and progesterone). All six phytoestrogens, as well as the androgens and progesterone, were tested in the presence of tamoxifen. In all cases tamoxifen reduced the production of VTG significantly, demonstrating that the estrogenic action of all of these compounds was most likely mediated by the E 2 receptor. The potencies determined here may not reflect the situation/n vivo but can provide complementary results about the activity of chemicals which need an hepatic metabolization to be estrogenic. Hepatocyte cultures would profitably be developed in other species to sustain these results.

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A factor binding tritiated testosterone was detected using "steady-state" polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, in rainbow trout genital tract. It migrated with a Rf identical to that of rat ABP. This binding was thermolabile, and was competitively inhibited by unlabelled testosterone. The steroid binding protein was found in cytosols from trout testes which had been previously perfused to avoid blood contamination, trout seminal plasma and in testicular explants incubation media. Using a quantitative assay and a Scatchard analysis, 25-50 pmol binding sites per gram gonad were found in testis cytosol. Binding affinity constant for testosterone in the various samples was close to 4 x 10(8) M(-1). The dissociation of steroid-protein complex was rapid (t 1/2 approximately 1.5 min). Hormonal specificity was studied by the competition of 3H-T binding with several concentrations of unlabelled competitors and the following order for affinities was obtained: dihydrotestosterone approximately androstenedione greater than testosterone greater than oestradiol greater than 17 alpha, 20 beta DHP greater than 11KT greater than cyproterone acetate greater than cortisol. High testicular cytosol and seminal plasma concentrations and apparent in vitro production indicate that the testis may synthesize an ABP-like protein in the trout. Such a factor would provide a unique marker of Sertoli cell activity and regulation in various physiological or experimental situations.

Summary--The respective roles of sex steroids and hormones related to growth and metabolism, on SBP regulation have been studied in rainbow trout. In vivo, oestradiol (E2) supplementation induces a slow but significant increase of plasma SBP concentration. Testosterone or cortisol injections have no effect. In vitro, the steroid binding protein that accumulates in incubation medium of hepatic cell primary cultures has been characterized and found to be similar to blood SBP. Its production is increased by addition of E2 (maximum: + 300%). This effect develops slowly over several days of culture and is dose dependent; as little as 1-10 nM E2 is effective.Recombinant rainbow trout GH (rtGH)--4).01 to 1 #g/ml--also increases SBP accumulation as compared to control cells and seems to maintain SBP production over culture duration. In preliminary experiments, (1) insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and SBP concentrations were found to change inversely after a 4 days stimulation with increasing concentrations of GH; (2) recombinant human IGF~ (250 ng/ml) tended to be inhibitory when SBP production was expressed per mg of total cellular protein, and a micromolar concentration of bovine insulin was clearly inhibitory.