TESTOSTERONE AND 5α-ANDROSTAN-17β-OL-3-ONE (DHT) LEVELS IN MAN

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Abstract
In order to test the hypothesis that plasma 17.beta.-hydroxy-5.alpha.-androstan-3-one (DHT) levels might represent a parameter of androgenicity independent of testosterone (T) levels, the T/DHT ratio was determined at low and high T levels in both sexes. High T levels in males were obtained either by stimulation of endogenous T secretion, by i.m. injection of either short or long-acting T esters and finally by oral administration of 200 mg of crystalline testosterone. In females high T levels were obtained either by i.m. injection of long-acting T esters or by oral administration of 200 mg of T. The T/DHT ratio was not a function of sex but a function of T levels, whether T had an endogenous or an exogenous origin. When, as in patients with porto-caval shunt or cirrhosis of the liver, the liver was bypassed, oral administration of T resulted in relatively higher DHT levels than expected from T levels: this suggests an extra-hepatic origin of plasma DHT and/or a decreased hepatic metabolism of DHT. In a patient with the testicular feminization syndrome the T/DHT ratios both under basal conditions and after i.m. injection of T propionate were similar to those observed in normal subjects.

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