Capillary blood flow in the testes and testosterone secretion in the starved rat

Summary The average capillary blood flow in the testes was found to be 181 l/min/g testis tissue (n=19) in rats starved for 5 days and 273 l/min/g (n=18, p<0.01) in the control group. Plasma testosterone was significantly decreased in the starved animals (1.00±0.06 ng/ml vs 5.43±0.63 ng/ml). When starved and control rats were stimulated with human chorion gonadotropin, testosterone values in plasma were greatly increased in both groups. The capillary blood flow was not altered. The data indicate that human chorion gonadotropin can stimulate testosterone production in the starved rat without influencing the reduced capillary blood flow.