Role of estrogens in the male reproductive tract.

Abstract

Most of the studies associated with defining the effects of estrogen have relied upon the use of models in which exogenous estrogens [17β-estradiol or diethylstilbestrol (DES)] are administered to rodents (Raijfer and Coffey 1979; vom Saal et al. 1997; Prins 1992; Pylkkanen et al. 1991, 1993; Prins and Birch 1997; Singh and Han-delsman 1999), from which conflicting outcomes have been reported (vom Saal et al. 1997; Prins 1992; Prins and Birch 1995). The creation of knockout mice (ArKO), in which the Cyp19 gene, encoding the aromatase enzyme, is disrupted (Fisher et al. 1998), provides a means to study the long-term effects of endogenous estrogen withdrawal in the male in vivo and to examine ..