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STEROID HORMONES 

 AND AGING IN MAN* 



Gregory Pincus 



WORCESTER FOUNDATION FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY 



In previous papers concerned with age-related alterations in steroid 

 excretion and metabolism, we have presented data for men and women 

 of various ages on: (1) the output of corticosteroids, measured as 

 neutral reducing lipid and as 17-hydroxycorticosteroid and also as tlie 

 Cortisol metabolites tetrahydrocortisol (THF), tetrahydrocortisone 

 (THE), allotetrahydrocortisol (ATHF), and /3-cortolone (Pincus et ah, 

 1954, 1955; RomanofiF et a]., 1958, 1959); (2) the output of the total 

 17-ketosteroid mixture, as well as the individual components thereof 

 (Pincus et al, 1954, 1955; Pincus, 1956, I960); (3) the estrogen ex- 

 cretion, measured as total biological activity and as the biological ac- 

 tivity in urinary fractions concentrating estradiol, estrone, and estriol, 

 respectively (Pincus et al., 1954, 1955; Pincus, 1960). 



The data on the outputs of various urinary corticosteroids from the 

 third through the ninth decades of life led to the following findings: 



1. The daily total corticosteroid excretion, however measured, 

 tends to be somewhat larger in males but in both sexes declines only 

 slightly with advancing age, and this small decline seems to be related 

 to the total daily activity of the individual studied, since expressing the 

 output as a function of the accompanying creatinine excretion gave no 

 significant change with age.f 



2. The daily output of the individual Cortisol metabolites is also 



** Investigations described in this paper have been aided by grants from the 

 U. S. Public Health Service, the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, the American 

 Cancer Society, and the Damon Runyon Fund. 



f Also, the marked diurnal rhythm of output seen in younger individuals is, 

 on the average, absent in the later decades. 



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