Studies on Interstitial Cells in Tissue Culture. II: Steroid Biosynthesis by a Clonal Line of Rat Testicular Interstitial Cells¹

Abstract

A stable, clonal, monolayer culture has been established from a transplantable tumor of the testicular interstitial cells of rat. The original culture contained 2 distinct cell types. An epithelial-type clone isolated from this culture secretes a high level of steroid hormones, is nearly diploid and is functionally stable through extended serial subcultures. The major steroids synthesized by this clone are 20α-hydroxypregn-4-en-3-one and progesterone. Androgenic steroids could not be detected in significant amounts. A second clone from the original culture was composed of a fibroblasttype cell and showed no steroidogenic capacity. (Endocrinology82: 614, 1968)