SOLATION studies with adrenal tissue have I yielded a variety of steroids, including corticoids possessing glycogenic and electrolytic activity, androgens, progesterone, and estrogens, as well as many apparently inactive steroids that are precursors or metabolites of the steroid hormones. This report will be concerned with the biosynthesia of corticoids and androgens together with a consideration of certain aspects OP adrenal hyperactivity. Progesterone biosynthesis will be discussed in reference to corticoid biosyntheqis and estrogen biosynthesis incidental to the metabolism of androgens.
CORTICOIDS
Cor-tisol and Corticosterone. T h c formation of these two glycogenic steroids from acetate and cholesterol has been documented in various reviews.Br14 More recently the carlier studies have been confirmed and extended with the reports that acetate is converted to cortisol and corticosterone by in vivo methods,4ie by perfusion,5 and by use of rat-and hog-adrenal homogenates.l, l 3 @,p-Dimethylacrylic acid appears to be a more efficient precursor of corticoids than acetate.l This is an expected finding, since this acid is an intermediate in the formation of cholesterol from acetatc.
Many new experiments have been reported that are consistent with the idea that cholesterol is a precursor of the corticoids. In addition to studies involving incubation of cholesterol with adrenal slices and cell-free preparations, 11, 211 26, 27, 29 Werbin and LeRoy32> 33 have shown that doubly labeled cholesterol (C14 and H3) administered to a human was converted to cortisol that was detected by the presence of properly labeled urocortisone and urocortisol in the urine.
Pregnenolone is the first CZl product in the conversion of cholesterol to corticoids. Saba and HechterZe established this fact, and Staple