Effect of dihydrotestosterone on melatonin secretion and the expression of melatonin receptors and apoptosis‐related factors in sheep epididymides

Abstract

The epididymis is an important accessory sexual organ of male animals, epididymal epithelial cells can secrete several factors to provide the necessary microenvironment for sperm (Gregory & Cyr, 2014). The development and function of the epididymis depend on the action of androgen. Testosterone (T), as an androgen, can be irreversibly converted to the more potent non-aromatic androgen dihydrotestosterone (DHT) through 5α-reductase (5α-red) activity (Robaire & Henderson, 2006). DHT was found to be approximately twice as potent as T in the rat prostate gland (Marchetti & Barth, 2013;Wright et al., 1999). Studies in testicular Sertoli cells have shown that the molecular structure of DHT facilitates its tight binding to the steroid-binding sites of sex hormone-binding globulin