JOE Society for Endocrinology Archive
HOME HELP CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     


Journal of Endocrinology (1980) 84, 381-390    DOI: 10.1677/joe.0.0840381
© 1980 Society for Endocrinology

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by MORI, M.
Right arrow Articles by TAMAOKI, B.-I.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by MORI, M.
Right arrow Articles by TAMAOKI, B.-I.

IN-VITRO SYNTHESIS OF ANDROGEN FROM PREGNENOLONE IN THE TESTES OF THE GOAT (CAPRA HIRCUS) AND IDENTIFICATION OF 5-PREGNENE-3β,17{alpha},20{alpha}-TRIOL AS AN INTERMEDIATE IN THE METABOLIC PATHWAY OF PREGNENOLONE

MAKOTO MORI, SACHIKO MATSUKURA, KAZUHIKO KAWAKURA and BUN-ICHI TAMAOKI

When [4–14C]pregnenolone was aerobically incubated in vitro in the presence of NAD+ and NADPH with cell-free homogenates of testicular tissue of adult domestic goats (Capra hircus), progesterone, 17{alpha}-hydroxypregnenolone, 17{alpha}-hydroxyprogesterone, 17{alpha},20{alpha}-dihydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one, dehydroepiandrosterone, androstenedione and testosterone were identified as its known metabolites. Time-course studies on this metabolism showed that the production of 17{alpha},20{alpha}-dihydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one and testosterone constantly increased up to the end of incubation, suggesting that these are both end-products of pregnenolone metabolism in this system. The other metabolites behaved as intermediates and were ultimately converted, in part, to testosterone by the testicular homogenates, indicating that testosterone was synthesized through both 4-ene and 5-ene-pathways. Furthermore, besides these metabolites, 5-pregnene-3β,17{alpha},20{alpha}-triol was also identified as an intermediary metabolite, formed from pregnenolone through 17{alpha}-hydroxypregnenolone in the presence of NADPH, and further convertible into 17{alpha},20{alpha}-dihydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one by the microsomal fraction and into 17{alpha}-hydroxypregnenolone by the cytosol fraction in the presence of NAD+ and NADP It was not, however, significantly transformed into C19-steroids. Furthermore, 17{alpha},20{alpha}-dihydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one, which was formed either from 5-pregnene-3β,17{alpha},20{alpha}-triol or from 17{alpha}-hydroxyprogesterone, remained almost unchanged without conversion to C19-steroids when incubated with the caprine testicular homogenates.







HOME HELP CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1980 by the Society for Endocrinology.