17-Ketostekoii) Excretion in Aceing Subjects 133 



androstane-3a,ll/S-diol-17-oiie, 0-2-0 -3 mo-, as aiulrostan-3a- 

 ol-ll,17-dione, 0-24-0 -34 mg. as 8etiocholane-3a-ll/3-diol-17- 

 one, and 0-41-0-52 mg. as 3etiocholan-3a-ol-ll,17-dione. 

 These figures are in agreement with Dobriner (1953) except 

 for 8etiocholane-3a-ll^-diol-17-one excretion. 



In older people, the total excretion has fallen to 3-2-3-4 

 mg. Androsterone and 8etiocholan-3a-ol-17-one have de- 

 creased to 0-6-0-8 and 0-9 respectively. The decreases in 

 11 -oxygenated steroids were less severe. Androstane-3a,ll/3- 

 diol-17-one excretion was 0-30-0-37 mg., androstan-3a-ol- 

 11,17-dione excretion was 0-1 mg., 8etiocholane-3a,ll/3-diol- 

 17-one w^as 0-2 mg., and aetiocholan-3a-ol-ll,17-dione was 

 0-21-0-23 mg. per day. 



Only three men and three women in an intermediate age 

 group (fifty to fifty-seven) have been studied. Though it would 

 appear that the decrease in 17-ketosteroid excretion in the 

 men appears only with more advanced age, the impression is 

 erroneous. The high standard error for the male group 

 indicates the wide variation, and, in fact, one of the male 

 subjects had a 17-ketosteroid excretion which was double that 

 of the mean for the younger men. The other two men showed 

 the same degree of decline which may be seen for the women 

 in the middle-aged group. 



Discussion 



Since men and women of the same age group differ only 

 slightly from each other in the excretion of any of the urinary 

 a-17-ketosteroid components studied, it appears that the 

 contribution of testosterone to the urinary 17-ketosteroids 

 is small in quantity, and therefore its production is relatively 

 small quantitatively. Even this small quantity, however, is 

 sufficiently greater in androgenicity than the androgenic 

 steroids of adrenal origin to determine the structural and 

 functional diff'erences between male and female. 



As shown in Fig. 1, it is likely that the principal pathway 

 of adrenocortical steroid biosynthesis is from the 3^-OH-J^ 

 structure to the J*-3-ketones, either C^g or Cgi, and that 11, 



