IT IS WELL known that the liver is the most important site of estrogen inactivation in different species. The early work of has shown that 95 per cent or more of the biological activity disappears when estrone is administered to man or rats or is incubated with rat liver "brei." Heller (1940) studied the inactivation of estrone, estradiol and estriol by slices of various tissues and the influence of several inhibitors upon this phenomenon. Engel and Rosenberg (1945) have observed that aqueous liver extracts, obtained at different pH, inactivate estrone in prolonged incubation. More recently Levy (1947), working with a liver extract prepared by a modification of technique, has been able to study several properties of the inactivating system.The present study was undertaken for the purpose of securing additional information regarding the nature of the estrogen-inactivating mechanism.
METHODS AND TECHNIQUESMale Wistar descendants, weighing from 150 to 300 gm. were used throughout. Different types of liver preparations were employed. Rats were killed by a blow on the head and section of the neck with scissors. The liver was immediately removed and was either sliced according to the well known Warburg technique or subjected to the following procedures:Three other preparations were used, i.e., frozen powder, homogenate and acetone powder.(1) The powder was prepared by freezing liver with a mixture of dry ice and ethyl alcohol and pulverizing the hardened tissue in a mortar. A 10 per cent suspension of the powder in Krebs (1933) solution was used for the experiments.(2) A 10 per cent homogenate was prepared. The required amount of liver was dropped in an ice-cold suspending medium, previously placed in the glass container of a Waring Blendor. The glass container was kept cold by packing with crushed ice and the tissue was homogenized for 3 minutes in a cold room at approximately 5° C.
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