1 Tissue steroid levels in response to reduced testicular estrogen synthesis in the male pig, Sus 2 scrofa 3 Heidi Kucera1, Birgit Puschner1, Alan Conley2, Trish Berger3* 4 5 1 Department of Molecular Biosciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, 6 Davis, CA 7 2 Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University 8 of California, Davis, CA 9 3 Department of Animal Science, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, 10 University of California, Davis, CA 11 12 Short title: Estrogen sulfates, aromatase activity and free estrogen concentrations in prostate, 13 testis and liver 14 15 * Corresponding author 16 E-mail:
[email protected] (TB) 17 1 18 Abstract 19 Production of steroid hormones is complex and dependent upon steroidogenic enzymes, 20 cofactors, receptors, and transporters expressed within a tissue. Collectively, these factors create 21 an environment for tissue-specific steroid hormone profiles and potentially tissue-specific 22 responses to drug administration. Our objective was to assess steroid production, including 23 sulfated steroid metabolites in the boar testis, prostate, and liver following inhibition of 24 aromatase, the enzyme that converts androgen precursors to estrogens. Boars were treated with 25 the aromatase inhibitor, letrozole from 11 to 16 weeks of age and littermate boars received the 26 canola oil vehicle. Steroid profiles were evaluated in testes, prostate, and livers of 16, 20, and 40 27 week old boars using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Testis, prostate, and liver had 28 unique steroid profiles in vehicle-treated animals. Only C18 steroid hormones were altered by 29 treatment with the aromatase inhibitor, letrozole; no significant differences were detected in any 30 of the C19 or C21 steroids evaluated.