THE ADRENAL GLAND 27I 



Chemistry of Adrenal Cortical Hormones 



The pioneer studies of Stewart and Rogoff and of Hartman had 

 indicated that various types of adrenal cortical extracts could effect a 

 moderate prolongation of the life of adrenalectomized animals. The 

 recognition that the activity resides primarily in lipid extracts of the 

 gland and that such extracts could indefinitely prolong the life of 

 adrenalectomized animals is to the credit of Professor Swingle of 

 Princeton University and his colleague Dr. Pfififner. Their methods of 

 extraction furnished the starting material for all subsequent isolations 

 of the active principles. 



These active principles were soon recognized to belong to the great 

 class of chemical substances known as steroids. The isolation of these 

 and some twenty others not possessing biological activity is due to the 

 work of Pfiffner, Wintersteiner, and Kendall in this country and to 

 that of Reichstein in Switzerland. The wealth of steroid material pres- 

 ent in these glands, both in number of compounds and the diversity of 

 their action, exceeds that found in any other organ of the body, not 

 excluding the gonads, which in their capacity as endocrine glands also 

 secrete steroid hormones. Why the adrenal cortex should contain and 

 presumably manufacture not only the steroids with the characteristic 

 activity of this organ, but also those with gonadal activity, as well as a 

 large number with no known biological activity, is but one of the un- 

 solved problems of its function. 



The minute concentrations in which the active steroids of the adre- 

 nal, the corticosterones, are present in the gland has made it difficult for 

 investigators to carry out the number of experiments with the pure 

 hormones that they have desired. The generosity of those who have 

 laboriously isolated and then donated these valuable compounds to their 

 colleagues for their work is beyond praise, and as one of the recipients 

 of their kindness I am happy to acknowledge how much it has meant 

 to our work. 



It is also a matter of gratification to know that the partial synthesis 

 both of dehydro corticosterone and i i-dehydro-i /-hydroxy cortico- 

 sterone from desoxy cholic acid has now been accomplished. This im- 

 portant work is the result of the collaboration of a number of organic 

 chemists in different parts of the country. The combined efforts of 

 Wallis of Princeton, Kendall of the Mayo Clinic, Gallager at Chicago, 

 Riegel at Northwestern, Wintersteiner at the Squibb Research Insti- 

 tute and Sarett of the Research Laboratories of the Merck Company 



