Testosterone Production by Ovarian Follicles of the Domestic Cat <i>(Felis catus)</i>

Abstract

In order to determine whether the ovarian follicles of the domestic cat which normally ovulates following copulation, were similar to those of the rabbit steroidogenically, the following experiments were carried out. Follicles were dissected out of ovaries from nine estrous cats throughout the year and incubated in medium alone or with luteinizing hormone (LH) or human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). Media were removed every 15 min and stored frozen until analyzed for testosterone using established radioimmunoassay procedures. Although LH and HCG caused slight increases in testosterone production the amounts produced were much less than that produced by rabbit follicles under identical conditions. However, when follicles were incubated for a total of 8 h without removal of media, marked changes in testosterone and estradiol production occurred. These data suggest that the ovarian follicles of the estrous cat are steroidogenically active.

Testosterone increases urinary free felinine,N‐acetylfelinine and methylbutanolglutathione excretion in cats (Felis catus)

“…However, plasma concentrations of MBG were recently found to be significantly higher (p < 0.05) in intact females compared to spayed females (Rutherfurd et al, 2002). Taken together, these studies, and in particular, the last study indicate that estradiol may have an effect on urinary felinine concentrations or the differences between spayed and intact females could be due to the testosterone produced in the ovary (YoungLai et al, 1976).…”

“…Previous results showed that spayed female cats have significantly lower concentrations of plasma MBG (Rutherfurd et al., 2002) and urinary felinine (Hendriks et al., 1995b) than their intact counterparts. The ovaries in cats have been found to produce small amounts of testosterone (YoungLai et al 1976), and it is possible that the significant reduction in plasma MBG found by Rutherfurd et al. (2002) is due to a reduction in testosterone concentrations in the blood, as a result of the absence of ovaries.…”