Desoxycorticosterone Synthesis by Human Adrenal Adenoma

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Abstract
Homogenates of human adrenal adenoma tissue, removed from a 6-year-old boy with hypertensive adrenocortical virilism, were found to be capable of converting progesterone-4-C14 to desoxycorticosterone-4-C14. Some evidence also is presented for the conversion of progesterone-4-C14 to corticosterone-4-C14 in this tissue. The addition of a TPNH generating system to the incubation medium resulted in enhanced conversion of progesterone to more polar metabolites. There was no evidence for the formation of androstenedione, testosterone, 16α-hydroxyprogesterone or aldosterone from progesterone. Slices of the tissue incubated with glucose-1-C14 or glucose-6-C14 showed evidence for 1) an active pentose pathway and 2) a high rate of lipogenesis. Quantitatively, the glucose data did not differ from previous results with human fetal adrenals.