THE DETERMINATION OF URINARY DEHYDROISOANDROSTERONE IN NORMAL MEN AND WOMEN AND IN ADRENAL DISEASE1,2,3,4

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Since the isolation of dehydroisoandrosterone from human urine and its identification as a weakly androgenic 17-ketosteroid (Butenandt and Dannenbaum, 1934), numerous studies have suggested that it is derived directly or indirectly from the adrenal cortex. The Callows (1939) found approximately the same concentration of the steroid in the pooled urine of normal men and women and a slightly greater amount in the urine of a male castrate (1940), clearly demonstrating that its presence in urine extracts was not dependent on the testis. The fact that the administration of testosterone propionate induced a substantial increase in the excretion of androsterone and etiocholanol-3(α)-one-17 without affecting the quantity of dehydroisoandrosterone isolated (Callow, 1939), and the failure of Venning, Hoffman and Browne (1942) to isolate dehydroiso-androsterone from the urine of a man with an interstitial cell tumor of the testis and an exceptionally high excretion of 17-ketosteroids indicate that it is not derived from testicular androgen in significant quantities.