Does androgen affect axonal transport of cholera toxin HRP in spinal motoneurons?
We examined the effect of systemic androgen levels upon the rate at which lumbosacral motoneurons are labeled with cholera toxin-conjugated horseradish peroxidase (CT-HRP) injected into target muscles. CT-HRP first reaches the spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus between 8 and 10 h after injection into the bulbocavernosus muscle of adult male rats, but the number of motoneurons filled with CT-HRP does not differ between androgen-treated and control castrates at any of the time points examined. Thus, contrary to current speculation, we found no evidence that androgen can affect retrograde transport of CT-HRP by rat motoneurons.
