STUDIES WITH DEUTERIUM STEROIDS 



T. F. GALLAGHER 



The metabolic studies have been a joint project with my 

 colleague, Dr. Konrad Dobriner. Infra-red spectrometry 

 has contributed greatly to the strictly chemical studies and I 

 am indebted to Dr. Dobriner for his help in this phase of the 

 programme. The synthesis of the isotopically labelled steroids 

 was the result of the collaboration of my co-workers, Dr. David 

 K. Fukushima, Dr. Theodore Kritchevsky and Dr. Bernard 

 Koechlin in the Division of Steroid Biochemistry. The 

 deuterium analyses were carried out by Mr. Robert W. Jailer 

 and the tritium studies were done with the co-operation of 

 Dr. Max Eidinoff. 



The primary aim of our group has been to investigate the 

 steroid metabolism of man. For this purpose, we have pre- 

 pared and studied steroid hormones containing both stable 

 and radioactive isotopes. Since we wished to study normal 

 as well as diseased subjects, much of our work has been done 

 with steroids containing deuterium in stable positions in the 

 molecule. Radioactive hormones have been used in patients 

 with limited life expectancy but as yet their use in normal 

 subjects has not been permitted. The deuterium steroids, 

 on the other hand, offer no radiation hazard; they can be 

 prepared relatively simply from a variety of substances 

 closely related to the hormones, and qualitative detection of 

 the isotope by infra-red spectrometry is relatively easy and is 

 accomplished without loss of material. Certain of the chemical 

 investigations have led to interesting results quite apart from 

 their biological implications. The present report will be 

 restricted to studies with the isotopes of hydrogen and will 

 be presented as a survey of some problems which have 

 engaged the attention of our group, rather than a report of 

 an integrated investigation. 



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