GREGORY PINCUS 



fate of the corticosteroids in the organism. We have mentioned that 

 desoxycorticosterone is degraded in part to pregnanediol. No parallel 

 information is available for the other active corticoids such as VII 

 and VIII, largely because these substances are available as pure 



CH2OH CH2OH 



0= 



-^\/\ 



(VII) 



Corticosterone 



c=o 



OH 



(VIII) 



ll-Dehydro-17-hydroxycorticosterone 



chemicals in only very small amounts. (They have been obtainable 

 thus far only from adrenal gland extracts and the yields are very low.) 

 Although we know that they are very rapidly inactivated in vivo, their 

 breakdown products are unknown. It is suspected that certain of 

 them may be converted to 17-ketosteroids, since adrenalectomy or 

 atrophy of the adrenals leads to a marked reduction in urinary 17-keto- 

 steroid output; but since other possible precursors of 17-ketosteroids 

 have been isolated from adrenal tissue {e. g., androstenedione) experi- 

 mental verification is needed. 



Eventually we shall have a detailed description of steroid 

 hormone transformation in animals and of the particular enzyme 

 systems involved. If we are to know the extent to which such trans- 

 formations are tied up with the function of the hormones, we will have 

 to know not only more about these metabolic changes but also the 

 precise role of the steroid hormones in cellular processes. 



Role of Steroid Hormones in Cellular Processes 



There is an extensive literature containing qualitative and 

 quantitative data on the effects of administering steroid hormones to 

 animals. It is not possible as yet to interpret these effects in terms of 

 the chemistry of the cell. Thus, the remarkable growth of vaginal 

 epithelium induced in spayed animals by folliculoids has been rather 

 intensively studied. That it can be induced by the direct application 



316 



