Abstract
In the past, several hormones have been investigated with the hope of finding a drug which would stimulate the growth of premature infants. Injections of chorionic gonadotropin by Giuffrida, 1 in 1936, produced no effect. In 1938, Moncrieff 2 found no significant response to thyroid extracts. Estrogens have been tried 3-5 and were found to produce no constant effect. Testosterone compounds presented more promising possibilities in the early studies of Shelton 6,7 and Earle 8 ; however, later studies by Hardy and Wilkins, 9 Seitchik and Agerty, 10 and Reilly and Earle 11 found this steroid to be of no value in promoting growth of premature infants. Currently, the prevailing opinion is that no hormonal agent has proved to be of value in accelerating the rate of growth in premature infants. Recently, a new anabolic compound, 17-α-ethyl-17-hydroxynorandrostenone (Nilevar), has been synthesized. Structurally its similarity to testosterone may be represented as shown in
Published Version
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