Lack of Demonstrable Androgenic Activity of Desoxycorti-costerone Acetate. ∗

Abstract

Ciystalline desoxycorticosterone has been isolated from the adrenal cortex. 1 Manifold biological activities have been attributed to this substance. It has a potent cortinomimetic activity 2 and has been shown to be a fairly effective progestational substance. 2-5 Salmon 6 has stated that it has an estrogenic effect on the human vagina. Robson 4 has reported that desoxycorticosterone will directly antagonize and nullify the effects of simultaneously administered estrogen on the vagina of the castrate mouse. These last two observations are contradictory and could only be reconciled by the assumption that there is a marked difference between the human and the mouse in their reactions to this compound.

The present authors have offered direct evidence that the adrenals of immature castrate male rats, 26 to 31 days of age, are capable of producing an androgenic substance. 7 , 8 In this paper it was noted that adrenosterone 9 and progesterone 10 had been isolated from the adrenal, and that both were androgenic. 9 , 11 , 12 It was also suggested that because of the chemical similarity between progesterone and desoxycorticosterone the latter might also prove to be androgenic. (See also Hamilton and Golden. 13 ) However, the following evidence shows that the foregoing speculation was erroneous.

Procedure. Fifteen male rats 31 days of age were castrated. Eight of these served as untreated castrate controls. The other 7 were given desoxycorticosterone acetate† subcutaneously in oil in daily doses varying from 1.0 to 2.5 mg. Treatment was administered for 8 days. The total doses varied from 8.0 to 20.0 mg. All animals were killed on the day following the last treatment, at 39 days of age.