Heterodox Notions on Pathways of Steroidogenesis*

WIDELY accepted dogmas in the life sciences often require revision. Some of these revisions are made necessary not by the subsequent correction of faulty data but rather by the fact that the dogmas are founded on data that, although accurate, do not allow for a single, unequivocal interpretation. In many such instances, the dogma arises when experimental data are considered in the light of contemporary conceptions. These evoke the most obvious explanations which, in turn, with the passage of time become cherished beliefs. This is true even when an alternative and sometimes equally logical explanation of the experimental data provides a different view of the natural situation, one that is no less tenable than the original proposal. Several years ago we examined in some detail the proposition that the true intermediates in the biosynthetic processes leading to the formation of the steroid hormones are enzyme-bound, transient species that proceed from precursor to hormonal products by means of concerted reactions (1).