In vitro incubation of human endometrium and myometrium has demonstrated both tissues to transform 17β-estradiol to estrone. The capacity of endometrium is approximately 40 times that of myometrium. The reverse reaction is of a much lower magnitude, indicting the biotransformation is in favor of the formation of estrone. The capacity of endometrium appears sufficient to oxidize essentially all ovarian synthesized estradiol, normally reaching it via the blood stream. It is suggested that this capacity is of sufficient magnitude to necessitate consideration of the possible association of hormonal action with chemical change. (Endocrinology81: 167, 1967)
The ultrastructure of the amniotic epithelial cells from normal, polyhydramnic, and oligohydramnic pregnancies were studied with the transmission electron microscope. The amniotic epithelial cell layer from normal pregnancies was 8- to 12-mu thick. In polyhydramnic pregnancies the cell layer varied widely from the normal thickness to as much as 18 to 56 mu in diabetic patients. Other ultrastructural changes observed in pregnancies complicated by polyhydramnios were abnormal microvilli, diminished intercellular canals, increased tonofilaments, and decreased rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum. In pregnancies complicated by oligohydramnios the thickness of the cell layer was 3 to 6 mu. The amniotic epithelial cells had increased tonofilaments, decreased desmosomes, collapsed and fused intercellular canals, and caused a marked decrease of the Golgi apparatus and the rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum. The sparse microvilli were short, plump, and had bizarre shapes.
THE role of the vitamins in the metabolic inactivation of hormones by the liver has been investigated by Biskind (1943) using the splenic implantation of the hormone in rats on deficient diets fed ad libitum. In such animals, however, there is a loss of appetite and, therefore, multiple deficiencies develop. Drill and Pfeiffer (1946) have shown by biological techniques that this is a major factor in the reduced estrogen inactivation following thiamine deficiency. The present series of experiments was undertaken, therefore, to attempt to determine the relative role of certain watersoluble vitamins in testosterone metabolism under conditions where the intake of other dietary constitutents was maintained. Niacin deficiency was chosen because of the evidence already obtained that diphosphopyridine nucleotide (DPN) is an essential cofactor in the enzymic reaction whereby an alcohol group on carbon-17 of testosterone is oxidized to a ketone (Sweat and Samuels, 1948).
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