CONVERSION OF CORTISOL TO CORTISONE BY THE HUMAN UTERUS AND ITS REVERSAL IN PREGNANCY

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Abstract
Inter-conversion of cortisol (F) and cortisone (E) was investigated by incubating minced tissue with 3H cortisol or cortisone and then separating the products by Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography. In non-pregnant subjects conversion of F to E predominated (43.4 .+-. 3.4% vs. 0.1 .+-. 0.4% for E to F). In early pregnancy F .fwdarw. E decreased and E .fwdarw. F rose while at term E .fwdarw. F (46.3 .+-. 9.1%) exceeded F .fwdarw. E (15.1 .+-. 6.8%). These results were in accord with those obtained by assaying the endogenous concentrations. In non-pregnant subjects the F/E ratio (1.1 .+-. 0.6) was lower than that found in serum (6.3 .+-. 2.2) while at term the uterine F/E (9.0 .+-. 1.8) was similar to that of serum (8.8 .+-. 2.0). These changes resulted in an 8-fold increase in uterine F compared with a 3-fold increase in serum F, while uterine E fell to 1/2 and serum E doubled. During pregnancy there is a dramatic reversal of the reaction in the uterus in favor of the active hormone. It seems possible that the increase in cortisol may play an anti-immune role in the uterine wall, the single tissue apart from blood in direct contact with fetal tissue.