Effect of 17-alpha-ethynyl-19-nor-testosterone on the urinary excretion of oestrone, oestradiol-17-beta and oestriol and of pregnanetriol in normal menstruating women and in oophorectomized patients.

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Summary. Treatment of three normally menstruating women with 5 to 10 mg/day `Norlutin' (17α-ethynyl-19-nor-testosterone) for 16 to 20 days caused, in two of them, a decrease of urinary oestrone, oestradiol-17β and oestriol to undetectable levels. In the third case no change was observed in the excretion of the oestrogens, but this result was most probably due to an inadequate analytical procedure. In all three patients the urinary pregnanetriol decreased to about half of the mean level estimated during the respective control menstrual cycles. In three oophorectomized patients no oestrone, oestradiol-17β or oestriol were detected and the level of pregnanetriol was significantly lower than in normally menstruating women. Treatment of these patients with `Norlutin' did not depress further the urinary excretion of pregnanetriol. The results suggest that `Norlutin' inhibits the biosynthesis of the ovarian steroids but has no effect on their biosynthesis in the adrenals. This selective action upon the ovaries may be useful for the evaluation of the ovarian function.