EXCRETION OF STEROID HORMONES IN AN ANENCEPHALIC NEWBORN INFANT

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Abstract
The steroid hormone excretion in an anencephalic foetus was studied by analysis of steroids in the meconium and urine. The meconium (14.3 g) contained about 2.7 mg of isomers of pregnane-3,20-diol, pregnane-3,16,20-triol and pregnane-3,20,21-triol. 1.7 ml of urine was collected from 24 h after birth of the foetus until death at 52 h of age. The following steroids were identified in the urine after hydrolysis with enzymes of Helix pomatia: 3α,6α-dihydroxy-5α-pregnan-20-one; 3β,6α-dihydroxy-5α-pregnan-20-one; 16α-hydroxy-5α1 and 5β2-pregnane-3,20-dione; 6α-hydroxy-5β-pregnane-3,20-dione; 3ξ,15ξ-dihydroxy-5ξ-pregnan-20-one; 16β, 20β-dihydroxy-5α-pregnan-3-one and 1ξ,3ξ,16ξ-trihydroxy-5ξ-pregnan-20-one. Qualitatively the differences between these steroid profiles of meconium and urine from the corresponding profiles of normal newborns were mainly the following: the absence of 3β-hydroxy-Δ5-steroid excretion in the anencephalic foetus; the presence of 3-oxo-5α(and 5β)-steroids in the urine of the anencephalic foetus. The results of the present investigation are in agreement with the view that during the neonatal period, 3β-hydroxy-Δ5-steroids are mainly synthesized in the foetal adrenal cortex.

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