THE NONSPECIFIC FLUORESCENT MATERIAL IN ESTROGEN EXTRACTS FROM THE URINE OF PREGNANT WOMEN*

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Abstract
INTRODUCTION URINARY estrogen extracts are known to contain some nonspecific material which can 1) induce the Kober reaction, or 2) fluoresce following the addition of acid. Using the countercurrent technique of fractionation, the fractions resembling estrone, estradiol and estriol have been found to represent only 30 per cent of the total fluorescence in urinary extracts from normal adults and 70 to 75 per cent during pregnancy (1). Although the nonspecific material may bear no relation to the estrogenic hormones, there is the possibility that it is made up of compounds which are either hormones themselves or intermediary metabolites of estrogens. Such a possibility has been suggested by the work of Lieberman et al. (2), Zondek and Finkelstein (3) and Slaunwhite (4). In an attempt to characterize this nonspecific fluorescent material, we previously reported the separation of two fractions designated as “E4” and “E5” (1). It is the purpose of the present paper to describe certain of the properties of “Fraction E4” as separated from the urine of pregnant women.