Influence of estradiol administration on protein synthesis in homogenates of hen oviduct

Recent studies in this laboratory on protein synthesis in slices of seminal vesicle have demonstrated that the administration of testosterone to immature rats results in the enhancement of a specific step in protein synthesis, the peptide bonding of transfer RNA-amino acids to form microsomal ribonucleo-protein (Wilson, 1962). However, the formation of peptide bonds in protein biosynthesis is a complex reaction, requiring, in addition to the transfer RNA-amino acids and the ribosome acceptor, the cofactor GTP, a soluble transfer enzyme, magnesium, and, in some preparations, sulfhydryl compounds (Nathans and Lipmann, 1961). In order, therefore, to localize further the mechanism of this hormonal action, the influence of estradiol administration on protein synthesis has been studied in cell-free preparations of immature hen oviduct. The hen oviduct was chosen for this study because of the demonstration by Brandt and Nalbandov (1956) that protein synthesis in this tissue is regulated by both androgens and estrogens.