A METHOD FOR THE FRACTIONATION AND MEASUREMENT OF 17-KETOSTEROIDS IN HUMAN PLASMA*

Abstract

ANDROGENIC hormones are known to occur in human plasma. McCullagh and co-workers (1) found that ether extracts of 50 ml. of blood stimulated capon comb growth. Koch (2) confirmed these results. We recently reported the isolation of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA) from normal human plasma (3). Romanoff et al. (4) reported the presence of both Δ4-androstene-3,17-dione and llβ-hydroxy-Δ4-androstene-3,17-dione in adrenal vein blood of subjects receiving ACTH. The second compound was more recently isolated by the same group of workers (5). Testosterone and Δ4-androstene-3,17-dione were also isolated from spermatic vein blood of dogs by West et al. (6). It is reasonable, therefore, to attempt to measure 17-ketosteroids (17-KS) in human plasma. Urinary 17-KS provide information concerning only the end-products of steroid metabolism. To study hormones produced by endocrine glands, one should examine the blood from the efferent vein of the considered glands, since later these hormones undergo various transformations throughout the organism. Therefore, the 17-ketosteroids of peripheral-vein plasma probably do not represent the true glandular products any more than do the 17-ketosteroids of urine. However, the assay of 17-KS may well be a valuable means of studying another phase of androgen metabolism.