ASSAY OF SUBCUTANEOUSLY ADMINISTERED ANDROGENS ON THE CHICK'S COMB

ABSTRACT The comb response of day old chicks was used to assay androgens administered by subcutaneous injection using both corn oil and aqueous tween vehicles. The use of the oil vehicle afforded a more precise assay method and the comb response was higher than when the aqueous vehicle was employed. When the tween vehicle was used and an arbitrary value of 100 assigned to the activity of testosterone the following relative potencies were found: androst-4-ene-3,17-dione (17), androst-5-ene-3β,17β-diol (49), dehydroepiandrosterone (65), and 19-nortestosterone (35). Using the corn oil vehicle and again setting the activity of testosterone as 100, the following relative potencies were recorded: androst-4-ene-3,17-dione (21), 17β-hydroxyandrostan-3-one (370), and testosterone propionate (395).