Effects of Pituitary Hormones and NADPH on Acetate Utilization in Ovarian and Adrenocortical Tissues1

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Abstract
In the course of the biosynthesis de novo of progesterone by corpus luteum slices in vitro, acetate-l-14C is incorporated into the steroid. Both the amounts of steroid formed (measured photometrically) and the incorporation of radioactivity are increased by exogenous gonadotropin, LH. Although exogenous NADPH (as a generating system) increases the quantity of progesterone formed de novo, it does not increase the incorporation of acetate-l-14C. The same phenomenon occurs in the biosynthesis of corticosteroids by adrenal cortex slices, with NADPH. It is concluded that the tropic hormone stimulates steroid biosynthesis from small molecule precursors, and that exogenous NADPH does not. (Endocrinology74: 599, 1964)