Highly purified cytochrome P-450 from neonatal pig testicular microsomes is capable of catalyzing both 17 alpha-hydroxylation and C-17,20-lyase activity. Estradiol was found to inhibit both activities of the purified enzyme with delta 4 and with delta 5 substrates (progesterone, pregnenolone, and the corresponding 17 alpha-hydroxysteroids). For the delta 4 series, inhibition of lyase is competitive and that of 17 alpha-hydroxylase is noncompetitive; for the delta 5 series, inhibition was noncompetitive for both activities. Ki values for lyase activity were determined from enzyme kinetics (5.0 microM for the delta 4 substrate and 20 microM for the delta 5 substrate). Estradiol produces a typical type I spectral shift with the pure enzyme (Ks = 3.0 microM where Ks is the concentration of steroid required to give half maximal spectral shift), so that Ki values were also determined directly from binding studies by using substrate-induced difference spectroscopy. Fifty per cent inhibition of the maximal spectral shift induced by the 17 alpha-hydroxysubstrates (Ki) are 3.8 and 7.6 microM for the delta 4 and delta 5 substrates, respectively. Values for Ki are higher with the substrates of 17 alpha-hydroxylase (progesterone and pregnenolone), by either method, than the corresponding Ki values for the lyase substrates. The concentration of estradiol in Leydig cells of neonatal pig testis is approximately 1.5 nmol/g. It is proposed that estradiol may influence testicular steroidogensis under physiological conditions by competitive inhibition of lyase activity.