METABOLISM OF [4-14C] PROGESTERONE BY COMPONENTS OF NORMAL HUMAN OVARIES

Abstract

ABSTRACT Follicular, luteal and whole human ovarian tissue were incubated in vitro with [4-14C] progesterone and cofactors. Each of these tissues showed a potential for carrying out a large variety of enzymatic transformations such as 6β and 17α hydroxylations and 20α and 20β reductions, suggesting that all these »anatomical compartments« have the capability of participating in the biosynthesis of a large number of normal intermediates; and their »normal« or anomalous production would be governed by the regulatory mechanisms peripheral to the ovary which themselves may be altered pathologically from the normal. The presence of 19-nor-C19 compounds is unexplained but substantiated by previous work.