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The presence of cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzymes in the rat testis was established by Shimizu, Hayano, Gut & Dorfman (1961). More recently Hall, Irby & DeKretser (1969) separated interstitial cells from seminiferous tubules in an attempt to compare the relative abilities of interstitium and seminiferous tubules to convert cholesterol to testosterone in incubations in vitro. They reported that the interstitial cells represent the major and probably only source of testicular androgens. This conclusion failed to explain the significance of the findings by Bell, Vinson & Lacy (1968, 1971) that the seminiferous tubules can convert pregnenolone to androgens. Therefore, the cholesterol side-chain cleavage activity of both the interstitium and seminiferous tubules of rat testis was examined by extracting and measuring the labelled isocaproic acid produced by the tissues when incubated with [26-¹⁴C]cholesterol.

Mature male Wistar rats (body weights 240–360 g) were killed with coal gas. The testes were removed