ANABOLIC-ANDROGENIC ACTIVITY OF A-RING MODIFIED ANDROSTANE DERIVATIVES.

Abstract

ABSTRACT The activity of 33 steroids, injected intramuscularly, was determined in a castrate rat assay utilizing the responses of the seminal vesicle glands and ventral lobe of the prostate glands as independent parameters of androgenicity and the response of the levator ani muscle as an index of anabolic activity. Testosterone propionate was the reference standard. None of the compounds possessed high androgenic or anabolic activity. The myotrophic and average androgenic relative potencies of the 8 most active analogues ranged from 30 to 89% and 3.1 to 39%, respectively. The most active anabolic compound was the 1-dehydro-3-keto derivative of 17α-methyl-5α-androstan-17β-ol while the widest separation between anabolic and androgenic activities, myotrophic to androgenic ratio of 11.3, was obtained with the 2-dehydro-2-formyl derivative. The effect of various modifications of the A-ring on biological activity are outlined in detail.