Sex-related differential gene expression of organic anion transporters (rOAT1, rOAT2, and rOAT3) in rat brain, liver, and kidney was investigated. There were no sex differences in the expression of rOAT1 mRNA. rOAT2 mRNA was abundant in the liver and weakly expressed in the kidney of male rats; however, the OAT2 gene was strongly expressed in both organs of females. The abundance of rOAT2 mRNA markedly increased in castrated male rat kidney; however, treatment of castrated male rats with testosterone led to a decrease of rOAT2 mRNA. Expression of rOAT3 mRNA in intact female rats was found in the kidney and brain, whereas in males rOAT3 mRNA was also found in the liver. rOAT3 mRNA markedly decreased in the liver of castrated male rats but increased in testosterone-treated castrated male rats. Moreover, rOAT3 mRNA increased in the hypophysectomized female rat liver, indicating that rOAT3 is an inducible isoform. The present findings suggest that sex steroids play an important role in the expression and maintenance of OAT2/3 isoforms in the rat liver and kidney. Our results provide information on the differential gene expression of OAT isoforms with sex hormone dependency. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science.