The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of testosterone on induction of
metallothionein (MT)
in liver of rats.The dynamic changes of MT induction and contents of zinc, copper and iron in liver of rats with different zinc status during the recovery period after an acute exhaustive swim were observed, and the relationship between MT and the metal ions was also analyzed.The results showed that hepatic MT could be induced by testosterone injected subcutaneously into rats.
Zinc deficiency led to a decreased basal liver MT level, which may be associated with both reduced testosterone and zinc levels under zinc-deficient status.Testosterone may play a role as an up-regulator for MT in body.It was demonstrated that the nutritional zinc deficiency resulted in not only decreases of basal MT and zinc levels in liver, but also later appearance of hepatic MT peak value after the acute exhaustive swim, indicating that the inducible ability and synthetic rate of hepatic MT were harmed and blocked by zinc deficiency.Thus, the elimination of free radicals produced in exercise and the tissue recuperation after exercise could be affected by lower MT content.The hepatic zinc, copper and iron concentrations increased and redistributed in varying degrees in all rats with different zinc conditions after the acute exhaustive swim.It is proposed that the increase and redistribution of these metal ions in liver are closely related to the induction of hepatic MT.