PREGNENOLONE

Abstract

PUBLICATIONS on the use of adrenocortical hormones in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other collagen diseases have stimulated further research to determine the activity of steroids that have heretofore received little attention. Among those now being studied, pregnenolone appears to have certain advantages that should mark this compound as worthy of careful inquiry. It has an extremely low order of toxicity; it has not shown any adverse effect on endocrine physiology; and it has shown some promise in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

A review of this interesting steroid seems timely.

Pregnenolone is a steroid, the 3-hydroxy analogue of progesterone, appearing in the penultimate stage of the oxidative preparation of progesterone (1, 2, 3). It has several physiologic actions which are not characteristic of steroid hormones of recognized groups, such as estrogens and androgens. Its chemical resemblance to progesterone has given rise to speculation about its interconvertibility, in vivo, according to a trend of thought often pursued at the present time, but it is seen that its actions are distinctive and are not readily traced to the formation of other steroids.