| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000)
Fiscal Year 1997: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Fiscal Year 1996: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
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| Research Abstract |
It is well known that the mouse submandibular gland (SMG) has androgen receptors and that androgens participate in the production of several bioactive substances, such as EGF,NGF and several kallikreins. Currently, crude drug extracts are in wide use for the treatment of many clinical disorders involving sexual deficiency symptoms ; however, their biochemical effects on the SMG have not been defined.
The present study was designed to examine the effects of Panax Ginseng extract (PGE,7-350 mg/kg, given daily by p.o.administration for 2l days) on induction of EGF and glandular kallikreins in the SMG of cryptorchid or castrated mice. The EGF content was increased in the cryptorchid mice by PGE,but not in castrated mice. The PGE induced total esteroproteinase (a kind of glandular kallikrein) activity in the cryptorchid mice but not in the castrated ones. The kallikrein isozyme (mKl, mK9, mK13, mK22) contents of esteroproteinase in the cryptorchid mice were increased by PGE as judged from their isoelectric focusing patterns. But the PGE did not stimulated the release of serum testosterone contents from the testis of the cryptorchid mice. The androgen-binding capacity of the SMG extract prepared from castrated mice was 2.5 times greater for the PGE-treated groups, as assessed by Scatchard analysis. However, the Kd value was not changed by the PGE treatment. These results suggest that PGE exerts its function through the androgen receptor.
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