2003/01/21 by Jean D. Wilson, Richard J. Auchus, Michael W. Leihy +5 · 3 citations
Medicine · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Chemistry · #Hormonal and reproductive studies #Estrogen and related hormone effects #Sexual Differentiation and Disorders #Androsterone #Tammar wallaby #Pregnane #Androstane #Endocrinology #Internal medicine #Testosterone (patch) #Steroid #Dihydrotestosterone #Biology #Androgen #Chemistry #Biochemistry #Hormone #Medicine
paper · pdf · doi:10.1210/en.2002-220721
openalex publication_date 2003/01/21 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The synthetic pathway by which 5alpha-androstane-3alpha,17beta-diol (5alpha-adiol) is formed in the testes of tammar wallaby pouch young was investigated by incubating testes from d 20-40 males with various radioactive precursors and analyzing the metabolites by thin-layer chromatography and HPLC. [(3)H]Progesterone was converted to 17-hydroxyprogesterone, which was converted to 5alpha-adiol by two pathways: One involves the formation of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone as intermediates, and the other involves formation of 5alpha-pregnane-3alpha,17alpha-diol-20-one (5alpha-pdiol) and androsterone as intermediates. Formation of 5alpha-adiol from both [(3)H]testosterone and [(3)H]progesterone was blocked by the 5alpha-reductase inhibitor 4MA. The addition of nonradioactive 5alpha-pdiol blocked the conversion of [(3)H]progesterone to 5alpha-adiol, and [(3)H]5alpha-pdiol was efficiently converted to androsterone and 5alpha-adiol. We conclude that expression of steroid 5alpha-reductase in the developing wallaby testes allows formation of 5alpha-reduced androgens by a pathway that does not involve testosterone as an intermediate.