Chromatographic Fractions and Estimated Androgenic Activity of Urinary 17-Ketosteroids in Castrate and Intact Men

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Abstract
The data were analyzed per kg of body weight, since values for 17-KS and their fractions were highly correlated with body weight in eunuchs. Titers were lower in castrate than in intact men for fractions containing androsterone and etiocholanolone and for estimated androgenic activity (either total IU or IU per mg of 17-KS). The bulk of urinary androgens and of fractions of 17-KS appeared to be from extratesticular sources in intact men at all ages. Aging was accompanied by decreases in androgens and most fractions of 17-KS, even in subjects (eunuchs) with solely extratesticular sources of steroids. Comparison of intact with castrate men indicated that, in the intact, two thirds of the decrease with age in urinary androgens involved extratesticular derivatives. The increase in adrenal cortical production of sex hormones that occurs after castration in some species was found not to characterize Homo sapiens. Values for most 17-KS fractions were highly correlated with each other, with androgenic titers and with total 17-KS; they were correlated with titers of urinary 17-hydroxycorticosteroids chiefly in eunuchs and only if uncorrected for body weight. The relationship between values for urinary androgens and 17-KS was so similar from subject to subject, within groups of either eunuchs or intact men, that formulae were devised to calculate urinary androgens from a simple determination of 17-KS. Quantitative measurements showed that secondary sex characters were significantly less developed in eunuchs than in intact men of similar age with comparable titers of urinary androgens. This demonstrates that urinary androgens do not necessarily gauge with accuracy the degree of androgenic stimulation provided by their precursors. The most likely explanation is that, whereas testicular secretions are normally required for full development (and in some instances for maintenance) of androgen-dependent traits, the chief urinary androgens (androsterone and dehydroepiandrosterone) are derived largely from adrenal cortical secretions which produce little androgenic stimulation.

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