THE HORMONES IN HUMAN REPRODUCTION 



genie hormones and progesterone. Testosterone has the fol- 

 lowing structure : 



CH3 ^OH 



TESTOSTERONE 



Androsterone, prepared from human male urine, has this 

 formula : 



ANDROSTERONE 



A statement of the relation of these particular sterols to 

 simpler chemical substances will be found in Appendix I. 



At the present time at least thirty-five substances of sim- 

 ilar composition are known which have androgenic effects. 

 Some of these have been found in the adrenal gland, or in the 

 urine under special circumstances, but most of them are 

 artificial products of the chemical laboratory. A list of them 

 is given by Koch.* The male hormone which is actually at 

 work in the body is probably testosterone itself or a closely 

 similar substance. The reason a definite statement cannot be 

 made on this point is that we are not sure that the chemical 

 procedures necessary to extract and concentrate the hormone 

 do not change it chemically. When testosterone is adminis- 

 tered to a castrated animal, it is transformed in the body and 

 is excreted by the kidney as androsterone. Since androsterone 

 occurs in the urine of normal men, this is presumptive evi- 



* Edgar Allen, op, cit.. Chapter XII, "The Biochemistry of Androgens," 

 by F. C. Koch. 



