Studies of Urinary Pregnane-3α,20β-diol During Pregnancy, Post-partum, Lactation and Progesterone Ingestion

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Abstract
The urines of 8 lactating women whose nursing infants showed prolonged neonatal jaundice were examined for pregnane-3[alpha],20[beta]-diol by combined thin layer and gas chromatographic analysis. The metabolite was present in 7 women and absent (< 0.02 mg/g of creatinine) in the 8th. In 36 apparently normal women in the last trimester of pregnancy there was no evidence for the presence of this compound. In 10 presumably normal women examined on the first and second days post partum no trace of pregnane-3[alpha],20[beta]-dlol was detected. In 3 lactating women with normal infants the metabolite was absent. Two women ingested a substantial amount of progesterone and their urines were examined for the usual metabolites as well as for pregnane-3[alpha],2O[beta]-diol, The latter compound was detected in trace amounts in one woman; the other, who had previously nursed a jaundiced infant and whose milk and urine contained pregnane-3a,20B-diol at that time, failed to produce a detectable quantity from progesterone. It is concluded that pregnane-3[alpha],20[beta]-dlol is a rare and unusual metabolite, the presence of which seems to be associated with prolonged hyperbilirubinemia in infants nursed by these mothers. The site of production and the precursor(s) of the novel metabolite remain to be established.