STUDIES ON URINARY PREGNANEDIOL AND PREGNANETRIOL

Abstract

1) Methods for the determination of urinary P-diol and P-triol
Mothods previously reported are briefly surveyed and our method employing column, paper, thin layer and gas chromatography presented and examined.
a) Alumina column chromatography
The author followed the method described by A. Kambegawa in 1961, which has proved to be very useful as the routine procedure for simultaneous determination of P-diol and P-triol.
b) Paper chromatography
Chloroform-formamide system was selected for the separation of P-triol, P-triolone and P-tetrol especially from the urine of patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia.
c) Thin layer chromatography
This procedure was employed by running small aliquots of urinary extracts from patients of suspicious congenital adrenal hyperplasia. By this method a rapid detection of P-triolone and P-tetrol in urine was made.
d) Gas chromatography
Gas chromatographic analyses were made on these steroids and an excellent separation on the gas chromatogram was obtained. The procedures and several data in this respect were presented.
2) Clinical significance of urinary P-diol and P-triol
The urinary excretion of P-diol and P-triol was studied by the above described methods especially in male adults. The mean normal values for urinary P-diol and P-triol excretion were 0.30 and 0.60mg/day respectively.
The excretion of these urinary steroids increased by ACTH and Metopirone and were suppressed by corticosteroid administration. In adrenalectomized patients with prostatic cancer who had already been castrated, the urinary P-diol and P-triol were excreted in insignificant amounts. According to these results these urinary steroids, especially P-triol, are supposed to reflect the adrenal function to a certain extent.
The influence of castration and gonadotropin was also studied and a certain portion of these urinary steroids was attributed to testicular origin.
The analyses of P-ritol and the related abnormal steroids, P-triolone and P-teterol, which characteristically appear in the urine of congenital adrenal hyperplasia is one of the most important subjects of this paper. Separation and quantitative analyses of these steroids were successfully made by every chromatographic procedure above described. Especially the application of gas chromatography to the detection and quantitative determination of P-triol, P-triolone and P-tetrol was proved to offer a very reliable measure for diagnosis of congenital adrenal hyperplasia.