Abstract
Urinary 17-Ketosteroids have been separated into 8 fractions by the adsorption chromatography. Of these 8 fractions, dehydroisoandrosterone (III) and 11-oxy-17-KS (VI and VII) derive exclusively from adrenal cortex, but androsterone (IV) and etiocholanolone (V) have been thought to be of testicular origin.
The latter two compounds (IV & V), however, are not always testicular. If gonadotropin secretion is sufficient, these two fractions exist in the same ratio in the urine of the female as well as of the aged, and even in the urine of the castrated. In men with decreased gonadotropin, infant or hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, the amount of these two fractions in the urine are very small and the chromatographic pattern differs from that of the normal male, IV+V being the major fraction. In the normal female, two kinds of patterns have been found; the one is the same with that of the normal, the other is the same with that of infant. The former seems to be found in the period of high gonadotropin level and the latter in the other period of the menstrual cycle. In the aged female only the former type is found, because she is always in the state of high gonadotropin level. Moreover, in a 20-year-old female, these two fractions (VI & V) could be increased by the administration of gonadotropin without any change in the amount of total 17-KS.
From the above mentioned, it can be postulated that gonadotropin acts to alter the proportions of the constituents of the total 17-KS, i, e. increase IV+V and decreasease VI+VII, by stimulating the adrenal cortex. The machanism of this action of gonadotropin is discussed.
The authors acknowledge, with thanks, the kind advice and encouragement given by Professor S. Okinaka.
