C19O2 Steroids and Some of Their Precursors in Blood from Normal Human Adrenals *

The ready response of the main urinary 11- deoxy-17-ketosteroids to adrenal suppression and adrenal stimulation leaves no doubt that a con- siderable fraction of urinary androsterone (3ahydroxy-5a-androstan-17-one), 5,8-androsterone (3ca-hydroxy-5/8-androstan-17-one), and andros- tenolone (3,8-hydroxyandrost-5-en-17-one, dehy- droepiandrosterone) must be derived from adrenal precursors. However, when adrenal vein blood was examined for such compounds, no consistent pattern emerged (3-9) ; therefore the identity of the precursors remained in doubt. The presence of androstenedione (androst-4-ene-3,17-dione), which was tentatively identified by Pincus and Romanoff (3), was not confirmed by Lombardo, McMorris, and Hudson (6), who examined 12 samples of human adrenal blood. In fact, these investigators (6) obtained from only one indi- vidual a substance, androstenolone, that could be classed as an efficient precursor of the urinary 11-deoxy-17-ketosteroids. The scope of the in- vestigation widened when Baulieu (8) reported that in two instances, adrenal tumors secreted androstenolone sulfate but no free androstenolone. The purpose of this communication is to document and extend the findings of our preliminary re- ports (1, 2) and to show that the normal human adrenal consistently secretes androstenolone sulfate, androstenolone, and androstenedione. These three compounds appear to be the principal pre- cursors of the urinary 1 1-deoxy-17-ketosteroids.