Effect of Methyltestosterone on the Nucleic Acid Metabolism of Rat Bone Marrow Cells 1

Summary

The effect of methyltestosterone on the nucleic acid metabolism of rat bone marrow cells was studied 2 hr after injection of the hormone. Methyltestosterone increased the uptake of ¹⁴C-formate into both RNA and DNA bases in both normal and transfusion-induced polycythemic rats. When the hormone was assayed in polycythemic rats a sevenfold increase in the specific activity of RNA-adenine was observed. The specific activity of DNA-thymine was two times greater than that of polycythemic controls. Under the same conditions erythropoietin produced a change only in the specific activity of RNA-adenine. The simultaneous injection of both hormones produced an effect on RNA-adenine that was a summation of the effect of each of the hormones separately. However, under the same conditions, the effect of both hormones on the DNA-thymine was that produced by testosterone alone. These findings suggest that the effect of testosterone on the nucleic acid metabolism of rat bone marrow is not mediated by erythropoietin.