STEROID STUDIES. II. THE METABOLISM OF ANDROSTAN-17(β)-OL-3-ONE*

Abstract

IN AN earlier paper (1) some effects of androstan-17-(β)-ol-3-one (stanolone) in aged people were described. The results of a chromatographic study of the metabolism of stanolone by an agonadal male are now presented. A 43-year-old obese male, who on physical examination showed a splitpea sized mass in each scrotum, was selected for this study. Both of these masses were subjected to biopsy.No functioning testicular elements— spermatogonia, Sertoli cells, or interstitial cells of Leydig—could be identified. At the age of 13, the patient was a normally developed individual with both testes readily palpable in the scrotum and of normal size and consistency. Following an accident at that time, both testes underwent apparently complete atrophy and there were consequent alterations in growth and sexual development. In our study, this subject was given for forty-five days a constant daily diet which contained 800 calories, with an average content of 60 Gm. of protein, 24 Gm. of fat and 89Gm. of carbohydrate. From the thirtieth through the forty-first days, a daily dose of 50 mg. of stanolone was administered by intramuscular injection. From the twenty-sixth through the forty-fifth dajr, aliquots of food for each 48-hour period were analyzed for sodium, potassium, chloride and nitrogen and two-day pools of urine were analyzed for sodium, potassium, chloride, nitrogen and 17-ketosteroids (Table 1).