DECREASE IN PLASMA LEVELS OF ENDOGENOUS PROGESTERONE DURING RENAL PASSAGE1

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Abstract
IT SEEMS established that two of the end products of the metabolism of progesterone in certain species are pregnanediol-3(α),20(α) (Venning, and Brown, 1937; Westphal and Buxton, 1939a; Heard, Bauld, and Hoffman, 1941; Westphal, 1942) and pregnanol-3(α)-one-20 (Dorfman, Ross, and Shipley, 1948). Whether other compounds are also end products is not definitely known, nor is it known where in the body the conversion occurs. Ovaries, uterus, placenta, and testis are not essential for the transformation (Westphal and Buxton, 1939a; Venning and Brown, 1940; Hamblen, Cuyler, and Hirst, 1940; Buxton, 1940; Heard, Bauld, and Hoffman, 1941; Hoffman, 1942), although it may occur in each of them. The two organs thus far implicated in the inactivation of progesterone are the liver and the kidney. Several authors have reported inactivation of progesterone by the liver in vivo (Selye, 1941; Kochakian, Haskins, and Bruce, 1944; Dosne, 1944; Masson and Hoffman, 1945; Engel, 1946; Forbes and Hooker, 1949).